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German expert on 'top-dying' of Sundari trees

Genetic finger-printing likely to help unveil mystery

By Shehab Ahmed
Is it viroid or bacteria something else, like inert using salinity, as some lend to believe to be the reason lor top dying ol the Sundarbans main species, the Sundari tree?
A German molecular biologists is investigating into the actual cause.
Prof Hans Peter Muhlbach of Hamburg University of Germany visited the world s largest surviving mangrove forest this week, gathering a wide range of samples for study back home to determine the exact cause of the Sundarbans' 'sickness.'
"We have taken everything; barks, leaves, twigs, chips even blocks of wood from healthy to fallen and dead trees and soil samples during our three-day trip to the forest. Prof Muhlbach told The Daily Star on Wednesday
He went to the forest with Dr Emdadul Huq and Dr Sheikh Shamimul Alam, two teachers of the Botany Department of Dhaka University, on January 12. collecting samples in six blocks of the Sundarbans.
"We visited block numbers 19,22.26.32.36 and 39 deep inside the forest with assistance provided by the Forest Depart ment. including motor launches and boats to access the remote jungle The department also lent us support with manpower and camps to facilitate our trip." Prof Muhlbach said.
He said the situation in some
areas were critical. We found almost entire blocks have been affected with tops dying slowly withering the trees and deci mating the most valuable resource in the mangrove." he added
The phenomenon has threatened the fragile eco-system In the Sundarbans even though it is a managed forest, he said. We need to study in depth to diagnose the disease before it spreads like plague
A molecular bio technological process known as "genetic finger printing' will help iden
lily Ihe mysterious affliction, he observed.
He is planning to carry out the genetic finger-printing at the research centre at Hamburg University. His friend and researcher Prof H J Jacobsen, also a molecular biologist, is expected to use molecular markers RFLP or RAPD lo identify the culprit through the genetic finger printing.
Jacobsen had also been to Dhaka with Prof Muhlbach to attend the Ninth Bi-annual Bangladesh Botanical Confer ence. They also visited the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture at Mymensingh. But Jacobsen left for home missing the expedition to Sundarbans.
Prof Muhlbach expressing his worries about the situation said it requires a multi-disciplinary study to find out the causes and remedy of the dis-
He is hopeful about the detective work to unearth the mystery behind the slow death of the Sundari trees with the genetic finger-prints "Funds. I be Heve, would not be a problem for the research, which is going to be a joint Bangladesh Euro pean scientific venture to save the forest." Prof Muhlbach said.
He has left for home yesterday with the specimens from the Sundarbans that will help him to find out the exact cause of the disease, first reported back in ihe late Seventies.
The disease has wiped out entire blocks of forests, spreading in about 5.800 square km in south-western Bangladesh.
It is threatening not only the eco-system but also the famed Royal Bengal Tigers, thousands of deers, monkeys, crocodiles, reptiles, turtles and varieties of fish, including precious stocks of tiger prawns. Prof Muhlbach warned.