Impact

Ecological Impacts

Elms are ecologically important trees as many different organisms are associated with them (Thor et al. 2010) incl. red-listed lichens (Jüriado et al. 2009) and endangered fungi (Rhodotus palmatus, Hymenochaete ulmicola) (Corfixen and Parmasto 2005; Kalamees 2011).

Economic Impacts

The annual cost of removing dead and severely diseased elms in the United States alone has reached $ 100 million (Campbell and Schlarbaum 1994) and keeping the disease under control has cost the same amount (Pimentel, Zuniga et al. 2005)

Social Impacts

Traditionally elms have also been multi-purpose trees (Martín et al. 2019) and valued for their timber, suitability for coppicing, landscaping and as roadside trees (Richens 1983; Heybroek 2015; Caudullo and De Rigo 2016).

Elms are one of the main amenity tree species because they tolerate city conditions e.g. polluted air, anti-slip salts, grow on different soil types (incl. compacted) (Whiteley 2004), resist winds, recover well from mechanical damage and survive in droughts and temporary floods (Townsend and Douglass 2004; Scheffer et al. 2008; Zalapa et al. 2008; Buiteveld et al. 2015).