FABI Founder Director Prof. Mike Wingfield and Prof. Pedro Crous, Director of the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute (WFBI, Netherlands) and also holding a Professorship in FABI at the University of Pretoria spent four days examining diseases of plants in Namaqualand in the Northern Cape Province.  This is part of a study to document the fungal biodiversity of South Africa and to better understand native plant and particularly tree health in the country.  The investigation also built on previous observations that quiver trees (Aloidendron dichotomum) and Euphorbia mauritianaare showing severe signs of decline in Namaqualand.  This problem is currently being investigated in FABI in a collaborative partnership with colleagues at the WFBI.