Dogs detecting fungal diseases in forests

Decaying fungi, such as the spruce root rot (Heterobasidion parviporum), and the pine rust disease, resin-top disease (Cronartium flaccidium and Peridermium Pini), cause extensive damage in our forests. The spruce root rot is the worst decaying spruce in Finland and, together with the pine root rot, is estimated to cause annual losses of around € 50 million. Root rot is estimated to spread further north as a result of global warming. In Finnish Lapland, individual observations have already been made of root rot, but the exact extent of the damage is not known.

Continuous cover forestry is becoming more common in Finnish Lapland. In forests dominated by Norway spruce, where cover is maintained from one generation to another, root rot offers unlimited dispersal potential. Ensuring the health of the stand before switching to continuous cover forestry is therefore of highest importance for the yield of the stand. In the method of continuous cover forestry, the change of tree species is not possible, and the control of root rot is based almost exclusively on early detection.

The resin top disease has become more common in the 21st century, especially in young Scots pine forests. In northern Sweden, the disease has occurred on several hundred thousand hectares, and in northern Finland, tens of thousands of hectares have been destroyed. In the worst case, young pine forests affected by the resin-top disease may have to be regenerated prematurely.

Early detection of fungal diseases helps to limit and prevent their spread. Early detection also allows for targeted control, saving time and money. Thus, there is a need to develop a new method for identifying the early stages of infection that supports the sustainable use of the forests, based on observations made by dogs trained in odor search. Dogs' sense of smell has been utilized in the past for a variety of searches and scent identification, in Finland recently for e.g. detection of coronavirus infections at airports.

The immediate goal of this project is to find out the possibilities of using the dog's sense of smell in the early detection of Heterobasidion root rot and resin top disease and to develop a field method for identifying the early stages of infection based on the dog's sense of smell.

10 dog dogs with their handlers will be selected for the project's scent training. Dogs participating in the pilot will be trained to identify root rot and resin top fungi from laboratory and field samples and to search for and detect diseases in the terrain. Practical measures for the identification of diseases as well as reliability for the scent detection of dogs are tested in the training environment and in the field test areas.

The Nose4Wood project is implemented by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (coordinator) and Lapland University of Applied Sciences, mainly in the Lapland region. The project is funded by the ELY Centre for North Ostrobothnia (European Regional Development Fund, Sustainable Growth and Work 2014–2020, A77327).

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