Editing Beech (section)

== Ecology ==
Beech grows on a wide range of soil types, acidic or basic, provided they are not waterlogged. The tree canopy casts dense shade and thickens the ground with [[leaf litter]].

In North America, they can form [[Beech-maple forest|beech-maple]] [[climax community|climax]] forests by partnering with the [[sugar maple]].

The [[beech blight aphid]] (''Grylloprociphilus imbricator'') is a common pest of American beech trees. Beeches are also used as food plants by some species of [[Lepidoptera]].

Beech bark is extremely thin and scars easily. Since the beech tree has such delicate bark, carvings, such as lovers' initials and other forms of graffiti, remain because the tree is unable to heal itself.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lawrence |first1=Gale |first2=Adelaide |last2=Tyrol |title=A Field Guide to the Familiar: Learning to Observe the Natural World |publisher=Prentice-Hall |location= |date=1984 |isbn=978-0-13-314071-2 |pages=75–76 |url=}}</ref>

=== Diseases ===

[[Beech bark disease]] is a fungal infection that attacks the American beech through damage caused by scale insects.<ref>"beech." The Columbia Encyclopedia. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. Credo Reference. Web. 17 September 2012.</ref> Infection can lead to the death of the tree.<ref>{{cite book |first= |last= |chapter=beech bark disease |chapter-url= |editor= |title=Dictionary of Microbiology & Molecular Biology |publisher=Wiley |location= |date=2006 |isbn=978-0-470-03545-0 |pages= |url=}} Credo Reference. Web. 27 September 2012.</ref>

[[Beech leaf disease]] is a disease that affects American beeches spread by the newly discovered nematode, ''[[Litylenchus crenatae mccannii]]''. This disease was first discovered in Lake County, Ohio, in 2012 and has now spread to over 41 counties in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, Canada.<ref>{{cite news |last=Crowley |first=Brendan |date=2020-09-28 |title=Deadly 'Beech Leaf Disease' Identified Across Connecticut and Rhode Island |work=The Connecticut Examiner |url=https://ctexaminer.com/2020/09/28/deadly-beech-leaf-disease-identified-across-connecticut-and-rhode-island/ |access-date=2020-11-15}}</ref>
As of 2024, the disease has become widespread in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and in portions of coastal New Hampshire and coastal and central Maine.<ref>University of New Hampshire</ref>