Abstract
It has been an exciting 12 months since the last update on the CPSM. Since that time there have been 3 PhD, 1 Masters and 3 Honours student completions. There have been new species of Phytophthora described from our native woodlands with many more waiting to be described, we have fished successfully for Phytophthora throughout Western Australian waterways, we've learnt how to eradicate P. cinnamomi from some of our native ecosystems across Australia, how some of our native plants respond to treatment to phosphite and how this treatment can be optimised, how satellite and airborne remote sensing technologies can be used to monitor and detect decline in tree health, the effect of Phytophthora on our remarkable fauna, and how P. cinnamomi appears to survive in black gravel soils of bauxite mines. Newly initiated projects will lead to exciting discoveries, including the sequencing of the entire P. cinnamomi genome, the interaction between P. cinnamomi and woylies and bandicoots, the potential spread of P. cinnamomi by feral pigs, the susceptibility of Australian native plants to P. ramorum, the biology, ecology and management of Phytophthora spp. in nurseries, and the mechanisms of survival of P. cinnamomi in a range of different soils in our natural ecosystems. Finally, the CPSM was instrumental in a successful bid for the State Centre of Excellence for Climate Change and Woodland and Forest Health with 27 national and international collaborating partners and this will be hosted by Murdoch University and have a close alliance with the CPSM. This talk will give a brief overview of some of these exciting research developments.