FABI researchers including Prof. Mike Wingfield, recently joined Prof. Jonàs Oliva, visiting from the University of Lleida in Spain, to sample a large number of rivers draining Cape province mountains for Phytophthora species. The work is part of a collaboration with Prof. Oliva’s research focused on functional ecology and broadly factors driving patterns of occurrence of tree pathogens. The collections make up a component of Dr Felipe Balocchi’s postdoctoral research supported by SANBI, as well as that of Dr Trudy Paap and Prof. Wingfield concerning biological invasions by pathogens including Phytophthora species in South African botanical gardens and natural woody ecosystems.