Plant Pathology and Plant Diseases

This new textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to all aspect of plant diseases, including pathogens, plant-pathogen interactions, their management, and future perspectives. Plant diseases have limited crop production for as long as humans have engaged in agriculture and horticulture. With climate change, globalization and increasing awareness of the impact of pesticide use on the environment, today there is increased focus on food security as well as the various impacts of productive agriculture.

Written by a group of Nordic professors and teachers of plant pathology who have collaborated together for many years, the book gives expert and seamless coverage. Their approach to plant pathology is to describe the nature of the problem, the mechanisms behind it, the kinds of organisms which cause disease, the fundamental biology of plant-microbe interactions and the approaches used to control and manage disease.

The book is relevant for a worldwide audience, but offers a North European perspective in its selection of examples of plant disease.

Anne Marte Tronsmo was educated at the universities of Bergen and Tromsø, followed by PhD from Norwegian University of Agriculture (now Norwegian University of Life Sciences; NMBU), Norway. She has held positions at the Norwegian Plant Protection Institute (now NIBIO) and the Norwegian University of Life Science. She is professor emerita in plant pathology at NMBU, where she taught plant pathology from BSc to PhD level for 35 years. She served as elected pro-rector for the Norwegian University of Life Sciences 2002-2005. Her research includes physiological and genetic aspects of induced and natural resistance to fungal diseases in various crops, as well as resistance to winter injury in grasses and cereals. She has supervised about 15 PhD students and published over 100 scientific papers. She has also been president of the Norwegian Society for Plant Pathology, and associate editor for the journal "European Journal of Plant Pathology". She has served as member of the Plant Health Panel in the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety (2004- 2018) and member of FACCE-JPI Scientific Advisory board (2014-2019).

David B. Collinge was educated at the universities of Liverpool and Newcastle Upon Tyne. He has been Associate Prof since 1987 and, since 2002 Professor of Plant Pathology at Copenhagen University where he teaches on several plant pathology, microbiology and genetics courses from BSc to PhD level. His research areas include defence mechanisms in plants, biological control, plant biotechnology and more recently endophytes. He is currently in the presidency of the British Society of Plant Pathology, has supervised over 30 PhD students and published over 100 scientific papers and book contributions. He is associate editor for the journals "Plant Pathology" and "European Journal of Plant Pathology".

Annika Djurle had her undergraduate and PhD education at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, where she worked as a senior lecturer in plant pathology. She has organized courses in plant pathology and been teaching in plant pathology courses, as well as crop production, and ecology courses since the 1980's at basic, advanced, and PhD levels. For several years she served as Director of studies. Her main research area has been plant disease epidemiology in agricultural crops, in a Swedish, European and International perspective. The transformation of scientific information to practical applications has been a recurring theme in her work.

Lisa Munk: Associate professor emerita, PhD, in plant pathology at University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She has been teaching plant pathology at bachelor, master and PhD level for 35 years, and has been supervised more than 130 MSc- and other undergraduate assignments and 11 PhD studies. Her main research area has been host resistance and other strategies for managing fungal diseases in agricultural crops. She has been Department Head (1991-2004), President for European Foundation for Plant Pathology (2004-2006) and is currently (2016- ) President of the Danish Society for Plant Diseases and pests.

Jonathan Yuen received his undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago, and a PhD from Cornell University, both in the USA. He has held positions at the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center in Taiwan, the University of Hawaii, and Uppsala University, before joining the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, first working in the extension services, but subsequently as Professor in Plant Pathology, with a specialization in epidemiology. His research interests covers areas from human disease epidemiology to the factors affecting plant disease management decisions. A recurring theme has been the role of plant diseases with respect to food security in both developed and developing countries. He has served as the Chairman of the epidemiology committee of the ISPP and has had editor positions with the journal Phytopathology. He is currently on the editorial board of CABI Agriculture and Biosciences. While he has retired from the Swedish University of Agricultlural Sciences, he serves on the Panel on Plant Health at the European Food Safety Authority.