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Ash trees are fighting back against a disease that has ravaged the British countryside, new scientific evidence shows.
When ash dieback arrived in 2012, predictions suggested up to 85% of ash trees could be lost.
But now scientists have discovered that ash woodlands are naturally evolving greater resistance to the infection.
The discovery offers renewed hope that the much-loved trees will survive in the British landscape.
“It is hope born out of the death of a lot of trees,” said Prof Richard Buggs of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, and Queen Mary University of London.
But he said other interventions would be needed to give ash trees a helping hand, such as protecting trees from grazing deer and breeding the most resilient trees for future planting schemes.
“We have fresh motivation to look after our ash populations, to protect them from other problems like deer browsing, and to let nature take its course and evolve trees with more resistance,” he told BBC News.
The Ash dieback fungus originated in Asia and was introduced to Europe about 30 years ago.
The study of ash trees at a woodland in Surrey revealed subtle shifts over time in different genes, which should help new saplings fight back against it.
The trees are evolving greater resistance to the disease than their predecessors – an example of Charles Darwin’s natural selection theory in action.
Richard Nichols, professor of evolutionary genetics at Queen Mary University of London, said a “tragedy for the trees
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