Features

Citizen Scientists: As Good As Gold

Doug Schmidt All Posts, Features
Citizen Scientists: As Good As Gold

 
Mycena rosea (Bull.) Gramberg
This beautiful mushroom, the rosy bonnet (Mycena rosea), collected and described by amateur mycologist Giovanni Robich, is vouchered in the herbarium of the Museum of Natural History of Venice, Italy. In fact, the entire herbarium is curated by expert volunteers. UC Berkeley, NCBI, and CBS researchers have sequenced a DNA barcode for most species in the museum and have devised an approach to test the validity of the taxonomy curated by volunteers, showing these volunteers perform as academic researchers.

Read the Full Article at Live Science Op-Ed & Insights
Main Article
Barcoding the Venice Herbarium Collection
Barcoding

SOD in the Montesclaros Declaration

Doug Schmidt All Posts, Features
SOD in the Montesclaros Declaration

SOD in the Montesclaros Declaration
SOD Section
Complete Montesclaros Declaration
Complete Montesclaros Declaration

 

Prepared by a group of more than 70 forest pathologists (representing 17 nations) that attended an international IUFRO meeting held at the Montesclaros Monastery in Cantabria, Spain during May 23th – 27th, 2011.As scientists studying diseases of forest trees, we recognize that the international trade of plant material is increasing the risks to forest health worldwide. The evidence for this view is based on the recent, unprecedented rise in numbers of alien pathogens and pests emerging in natural and planted forest ecosystems in all parts of the globe. We thus propose a phasing out of all trade in plants and plant products determined to be of high risk to forested ecosystems but low overall economic benefit.We regard all international trade in containerized ornamental plant seedlings and trees intended as plants for instant landscape planting as low benefit in terms of overall economy but high risk to forest health. For instance, production of seedlings in low cost localities for outplanting in different and distant environments provides only a marginal net economic benefit to the whole area, but provides an efficient pathway for pathogen and pest dispersal. In addition, international trade in other plant materials (e.g., wood packaging, wood chips, etc.) should be scrutinized and more strictly regulated.

Link to Website

Nursery-Strain of Sudden Oak Death Found in Sierra Nevada.

Doug Schmidt All Posts, Features
Nursery-Strain of Sudden Oak Death Found in Sierra Nevada.

A Disease Note in the scientific journal Phytopathology records the first instance of Phytophthora ramorum, the causal agent of Sudden Oak Death, found in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California. The June 2014 article (PDF link) is the first time that the “NA2” lineage of SOD, that is usually only found in commercial nurseries, has been isolated in the wild in California. The host plant that the disease was isolated from was an ornamental rhododendron that had been planted a year earlier. Nursery plants are highly regulated and inspected for SOD in California but this discovery illustrates the need for continued efforts to prevent the spread of SOD to previously uninfected areas.