We have wanted to do this for ten years, and finally the day has arrived. Our documentary film helped us to gather $15k, so on September 17th, Dylan Mendenhall of Haven Ecology collected sword fern tissue samples. We hope to identify contrasting microbiomes by comparing diseased tissue (from an active die-off site at Seward) and healthy controls (from Seattle’s Interlaken Park). Our informal studies suggest that the ferns are being killed by a water-borne pathogen, or by the loss of a protective microbe. DNA sequencing may identify the species.
Dylan is now extracting DNA for submission to Dalhousie University, where PCR amplification of fungal, bacterial and oomycetes primers prepare for sequencing. Dylan will analyze the data, with results ready by the end of the year.
The sword fern die-off is now broadly recognized as a regional problem, common across the Puget lowlands. Nonetheless, this loss of a foundational PNW forest understory speices has failed to garner interest and funding from government and academic researchers.
That may change. Washington’s Department of Natural Resources and UW researchers tell us they will be interested in following up if we obtain significant results.