1. BIOLOGY ECOLOGY GENETICS of FOREST FUNGI
Lesson 1 of BEG Spring 2010
Taught by Dr. Matteo Garbelotto
Office: Third floor Hilgard Hall
Office hours: THURSDAYS at 1 pm

2. Course info One two hour lecture per week
One quiz every week on previous lecture
NO syllabus, but….
Some readings will be ed to students
Web site:
Link to UCB course
POWERPOINT LECTURES, assigned readings
Posted on Fridays

3. Course info One final quiz (3 questions out of 9)
One short Powerpoint presentation
Possibility to improve grade by writing paper (5 pages) on same topic as oral presentation
One computer lab: use of software for genetic analyses

4. GRADING 25% class participation 25% weekly quizzes 25% final quiz
25% oral presentation

5. EMERGENT FOREST DISEASES: ARE THEY A THREAT TO NATIVE ECOSYSTEMS?
Matteo Garbelotto
U.C.Berkeley

6. “Native diseases”: Indigenous microbes
Plant ecosystems have co-evolved to resistance
Native diseases are an important component of forest ecosystems

7. “Roles of native diseases”:
Thin natural populations of trees
Optimal allocation of resources
Selection for a genetically diverse host population
Maintain tree ranges
Succession: nutrient cycling

8. “Emergent diseases”: diseases on the rise
New introduced, exotic, organisms
Good gone bad: e.g. climate change or human activities trigger excessive pathogenicity of native organism

9. DISEASE TRIANGLE
Pathogen
Host
Environment

10. DISEASE TRIANGLE
HIGH DISEASE
Pathogen
Host
Environment

11. Pathogen Does it need a wound to infect a host?
Can it survive in the environment without a host?
soil, water
on alternate host
How does it move around?
airborne/waterborne
animal vectors
humans

12. Host Must be physically present with pathogen
Must be physically compatible with pathogen
Must provide window of opportunity for infection
Genetic resistance?
often lack of resistance
if disease is introduced
What type of resistance?
simple= one gene
complex=several genes
Host

13. Environment Climatic As modified per human management
Species composition
Plant density