Fig 1. Bud scale morphology is dramatically affected by the presence of Litylenchus crenatae subsp. mccannii.

(A) Morphological changes of bud scales infected with nematodes in early fall. A scale of 5 groups were established based on bud scale phenotype: (0 = no damage to 4 = significant damage). Scale bars: 2 mm. (B) Number of nematodes from buds (n = 60) randomly collected from symptomatic beech leaf diseased trees distributed in a natural forest stand in Virginia (US). Buds were distributed within each phenotypic group (0 to 4). Thick lines in the boxplot represent medians. Different letters denote statistical differences between phenotypic groups (P < 0.05, ANOVA with Tukey-Kramer test). (C-D) Representative photomicrographs of the inner tissues of (C) non-infected and (D) highly infected buds. Scale bars: 2 mm.