Root damage and water stress: treatments affecting the exploitation of the buds of common ash Fraxinus excelsior L., by larvae of the ash bud moth Prays fraxinella Bjerk. (Lep., Yponomeutidae).

Damage to the buds of the common ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) by larvae of the ash bud moth Prays fraxinella Bjerk. was investigated in trees growing in the presence, or absence, of an adjacent ditch. The presence of a ditch was correlated with increased damage levels due to bud moth. Saplings were used in an experiment to compare the effects of artificial drought and root damage with those of ditches. Both root damage and drought elicited analogous responses to those observed in trees growing near a ditch, being associated with elevated levels of bud moth exploitation and reduced growth of shoots. There exists a documented link between ditches, root disturbance, and the dieback of hedgerow ash trees in Great Britain; the response of P. fraxinella to environmental disturbances associated with dieback is hypothesised to be evidence of the possible role of moth damage as a causal factor in dieback.