The fungus known as Hymenoscyphus Fraxineus (H. Fraxineus) is an ascomycete fungus which is the largest phylum of the fungus kingdom with over 64,000 species. The fungus causes ash dieback, and that is a chronic fungal disease that targets European ash trees. Only 2% of trees will survive this fungus, but these trees are mostly old and sturdy, but they can become fragile and end up taken down or die from another disease. Without ash trees many animals in urban environments will become either threatened or endangered, and many other ecosystems will be affected by their removal. 

The first known report of the disease was in 1992 in Poland and has spread all throughout Europe since. The emerald ash borer is a beetle native to Northeast Asia and an invasive species in Europe. The fungus, joined with the beetle could wipe out the entire European ash tree population. The fungus was found in Britain in early 2012, in saplings. The UK imposed a ban on ash trees from the other European countries later in 2012, after the infection had made its way into the woodlands. The government tried to control the spread of the fungus, developing a vaccine. “It was too little too late” experts say about the vaccine. 

We can only hope that the vaccines and these precautions work so we can save the ash trees.