This video is an introduction to a series of filmed talks from the Forestry Commission Plant Health Conference. It introduces the ash dieback problem nicely and places it in a wider context. A number of experts give their opinions on how to approach combatting the disease.
Another new tree health resource is the UKPSF’s Ash Dieback web resource, which was launched this week. Mimi Tanimoto, Executive Officer of the UKPSF, said, “Speaking to scientists who wanted to do something to help combat ash dieback, I found a recurring problem that they were unsure of what else was happening. It was clear that by joining up the various projects we could better tackle the disease.” The website will be updated regularly with news, and it is possible to sign up on the site to receive these updates via email. Anyone who has news that they would like added to the site can contact Mimi at mimitanimoto@societyofbiology.org.
The final piece of ash dieback news is that the Open Ash Dieback project, which crowdsources genome analysis of ash trees and the fungal pathogen Chalara fraxinea,published their first paper last week. Crowdsourcing genomic analyses of ash and ash dieback – power to the people by researchers from several UK universities, lead by two groups at the Sainsbury Laboratory, was published in GigaScience 2:2 doi:10.1186/2047-217X-2-2.