Modern plant pathology benefits from integrating methods and concepts from evolutionary biology. For example, evolutionary concepts are used to identify and examine species boundaries of plant pathogens, recognize processes underlying pathogen biogeography, identify traits that characterize emerging species, and discover new molecular interactions that originate under processes of selection. In...
The fungus Nothophaeocryptopus gaeumannii is the causative agent of Swiss needle cast (SNC), a foliar disease of Douglas-fir. Disease is characterized by premature loss of foliage and reduced growth resulting from the inhibition of photosynthesis due to the occlusion of stomata by the ascocarps of N. gaeumannii. Although the disease...