This month Sílvia Maússe Sitoe, an MSc student from Mozambique, received the examiner’s reports for her dissertation on the diseases of plantation Eucalyptus species in that country. Both reports were extremely complimentary about Sílvia’s research and recommended that she be awarded an MSc degree.
Sílvia’s dissertation, entitled Fungal diseases of Eucalyptus in Mozambique with particular reference to the Cryphonectriaceae is the most comprehensive study to date on the fungal diseases affecting plantation grown Eucalyptus species in Mozambique. She is currently in the process of preparing her research chapters for publication, and has already published the description for a previously unknown Calonectria (Cylindrocladium) species from nurseries in the country (Calonectria mossambicensis S. Maússe-Sitoe, S.F. Chen & Jol. Roux, sp. nov. 2013. Fungal Planet description sheets: 154–213. Persoonia 31, 290-291).
Sílvia is currently back in Mozambique, at the Eduardo Mondlane University, where she has a position in the Department of Forestry Enginering. She teaches forest protection and other forestry subjects.