Department of Botany and Plant Pathology

Mycology, ecology and systematics of fungal endophytes; taxonomy, ecology and infection biology of fungal parasites of conifers and other woody hosts; taxonomy and systematics of microascomycetes and asexual, conidial fungi.

• Mycology, ecology and evolutionary biology of fungal parasites of conifers. We are using various molecular and traditional methods to infer speciation patterns among species and genera of ascomycetes and their conifer hosts. We use phylogenetic analyses to determine low host shifts, cospeciation, host specialization patterns and losses of sexual states have contributed to speciation in parasitic fungi. We are investigating f actors affecting the distribution of a foliar fungal pathogen of Douglas-fir, its infection biology and epidemiology, p opulation genetics, and its effect on carbon dioxide flux in multiple-aged forests.  We are also investigating the histopathology of the sudden oak death pathogen, Phytophthora ramorum , in different hosts and tissue types, and developing an in situ PCR based method for detection of P. ramorum in host tissue.

Research Group Members

Past Graduate Students

Zolton Bair
Patrick Bennett