Assessment of the mountain pine (Pinus mugo) needles health at selected locations in the Tatra National Park

Mountain pine (Pinus mugo) is the most important component of the sub-alpine and alpine zone in the Tatras, and other ranges of central Europe. In Poland, only population from the Karkonosze Mts. has been studied in terms of phytopathological threats so far. There is not much information on the diseases caused by fungi in the mountain pine from other regions either. The mycological analyses of infected mountain pine needles were conducted for years 2013 and 2014 in subalpine zone of the Tatra Mts (Morskie Oko, Ha la Gasienicowa, Hala Kondratowa). Pine needles rust Coleosporium tussilaginis and yellow spots Lophodermium conigenum were found. To a lesser extent the needles were spotted with symptoms caused by Mycosphaerella dearnessi. Infection symptoms and fraction of the infected needles on one shoot were determined. The isolation of fungi was conducted in end of July, when the intensity of disease symptoms on needles was the highest. The main species isolated from the infected needles was Lophodermium spp., while the dominant one was L. conigenum. Except for this pathogen, L. pinastri, Botrytis cinerea and Epicoccum niger were identified together with several saprotrophic species, e.g. Aspergillus niger. The most frequent disease of mountain pine needles in the Tatra Mts. is pine needles rust. Observations in the Karokonosze and the Tatra Mts. indicate that both populations suffer from similar diseases. The differences show that pathogens adapt to different environmental conditions. Therefore constant monitoring of the health status of mountain pine growing in nature seems to be necessary.