Bark eaten off Rowan tree?

[Island Lescure]

Hi,

 

Has anyone seen this before? It looks like the woodlice and perhaps some sort of nematodes have partially eaten the dead bark off this Rowan. The outer layer of the bark, as in a very thin sliver of silver bark, was still attached all around. The "damage" goes all around the tree and is also visible on some upper parts. The stem was previously covered in ivy. What is left, as can be seen in the pics, is ridged wood that is alive. Is this still cambium or has the cambium layer been removed? Just wondering if the tree has put out the leaves without any link to the roots and will therefore die this year...

 

Any info or suggestions? Beetle damage?

 

Cheers,

 

Island

[Island Lescure]

We ended up crown lifting the tree. Here are cross cut details of affected areas or near affected areas. You can see where the ridges will form. I did not think to look at non affected areas to see if they are the same...

There were at least 3 distinct areas throughout the tree that were affected.

It looks like the cambium is fine. Don't know about the bark cambium though.

Any thoughts appreciated.

[Paul Cleaver]

did you check the root area below the dead bark?

[Island Lescure]

No, in short. It was in various areas in the canopy so I didn't think to look at the base.