Potato Virus Y (PVY) is an enduring problem for potato production worldwide. Potato varieties that resist the “ordinary” strain PVYO were developed by breeders, but in recent years, recombinant strains of PVY have been able to circumvent this strain-specific resistance and evade growers and seed certification officials by causing fewer...
Parasites are ubiquitous members of ecological communities, capable of contributing to the decline of vulnerable populations. Therefore, monitoring parasite level is a critical component for host management. Molecular tools, such as quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), can be valuable additions to monitoring protocols that assess parasitic disease risk to hosts....
Black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis L.) is a US Pacific Northwest specialty crop prized for its unique flavor profile and nutritional attributes. A major obstacle for the raspberry industry is Black raspberry necrosis virus vectored by the large raspberry aphid (Amphorophora agathonica). Market expansion depends on production, which is currently hindered...
Isothiocyanates (ITCs) are produced by roots in a variety of agricultural plants, such as those within the Brassicaceae family. ITCs act as fumigants, and are used to control microbial plant pathogens by adding brassica-origin seed meal to soil prior to replanting. However, there is suggestion that the presence of residual...
Biotic and abiotic processes at continent-ocean interfaces cycle a disproportionate mass of carbon and nutrients relative to their global surface area, and microbial activity is a principal determinant of organic and inorganic matter flux in these transition zones. Most studies using modern high-throughput ‘omics techniques to link microorganisms with costal...
The mountain pine beetle has impacted over 5 million hectares of pine forests in the Rocky Mountains region in the United States. Although some beetle-killed stands are available for salvage harvesting, there are many uncertainties in harvesting beetle-killed stands including safety, costs, recoverable products and their values. These uncertainties impose...
Giant chinquapin (Chrysolepis chrysophylla) is an evergreen hardwood often found as a shrubby understory component of coniferous forests in the Pacific Northwest United States. Due to its ability to sprout quickly after disturbances such as fire and logging it is often viewed as a pest by forest managers. Like its...
The European hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) is a tree nut crop that is important in Oregon, which produces 99% of the United States’ hazelnuts but only 5% of the world’s supply. In order to maintain this market share, farmers in Oregon need cultivars that produce high quality nuts, mature early,...
Coral reefs form vast ecosystems in tropical oceans that are hotspots for biodiversity and are economically valuable. The ecological success of coral reefs is made possible by the symbiotic relationship between corals and dinoflagellate algae from the family Symbiodiniaceae. In this symbiosis, the algae are found within host gastrodermal cells...
On coral reefs, disturbances rarely occur in isolation. Global stressors such as increasing seawater temperature often coincide with local stressors like nutrient pollution. In the face of increasing anthropogenic stress, corals can function as environmental sentinels, although little is known about how multiple stressors interact to disrupt their associated bacterial...