Article Interactions between Phytophthora cactorum, Armillaria gallica and Betula pendula Roth. Seedlings Subjected to Defoliation Justyna Anna Nowakowska 1,* , Marcin Stocki 2 , Natalia Stocka 3, Sławomir Slusarski´ 4, Miłosz Tkaczyk 4 , João Maria Caetano 5 , Mirela Tulik 6 , Tom Hsiang 7 and Tomasz Oszako 2,4 1 Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Sciences, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw, Wóycickiego 1/3 Street, 01-938 Warsaw, Poland 2 Institute of Forest Sciences, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, Białystok University of Technology, Wiejska 45E, 15-351 Białystok, Poland;
[email protected] (M.S.);
[email protected] (T.O.) 3 Institute of Environmental Engineering and Energy, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, Białystok University of Technology, Wiejska 45E, 15-351 Białystok, Poland;
[email protected] 4 Forest Protection Department, Forest Research Institute, Braci Le´snej3, 05-090 S˛ekocinStary, Poland;
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[email protected] (M.T.) 5 Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal;
[email protected] 6 Department of Forest Botany, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Nowoursynowska 159, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland;
[email protected] 7 Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +48-22-569-6838 Received: 29 July 2020; Accepted: 15 October 2020; Published: 19 October 2020 Abstract: The purpose of this study was to better understand the interactive impact of two soil-borne pathogens, Phytophthora cactorum and Armillaria gallica, on seedlings of silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.) subjected to stress caused by mechanical defoliation, simulating primary insect feeding.