FABI had a significant and visible presence at the recently concluded XXV IUFRO World Congress 2019 held in the Brazilian city of Curitiba from 29 September to 5 October. The ten FABIans included IUFRO President and FABI founder Director Prof. Mike Wingfield, Prof. Brenda Wingfield, FABI Director Prof. Bernard Slippers, Prof. Wilhelm de Beer, Prof. Brett Hurley, Dr Irene Barnes, Morné Booij-Liewes, and PhD candidates Darryl Herron, Joey Hulbert and Josephine Queffelec along with extraordinary Professors Treena Burgess (Murdoch University), ShuaiFei Chen (CFTPP) and Jeremy Allison (Natural Resources Canada). IUFRO hosts these World Congresses every five years and this was the first to be hosted in Latin America and also saw the end of Mike’s five-year term of office as the IUFRO Presidency, handing this over to the incumbent President, Dr John Parrotta during the closing ceremony on 5 October.

FABIans presented 10 talks and seven posters, chaired technical sessions and participated in working party and Division meetings while Dr Irene Barnes chaired a technical session on Needle and shoot diseases of pine. Professor Brett Hurley also attended the IUFRO International Council meeting as South Africa’s representative on this body that meets every five years.

In addition to the FABIans there were numerous alumni, collaborators and friends of FABI in addition to several other South Africans from Forestry South Africa and other academic institutions. These included Forestry SA Research Director Dr Ronald Heath, Prof. Jan Stenlid (SLU), Prof. Paxie Chirwa (University of Pretoria), Dr Alistair McTaggart (University of Queensland), Dr Stuart Fraser (SCION), Dr Rodrigo Ahumada (Bioforest), Dr DongHyeon Lee (South Korea), Dr Andrew Morris (ICFR), Dr Ben van Wyk, Dr Coert Geldenhuys (Stellenbosch University), Tatenda Mapeto (NMMU) and Brand Wessels (Stellenbosch University).

Presentations:

Barnes I.: The population structure and genetic diversity of the pine needle pathogen, Dothistroma pini in Europe.

de Beer Z.W.: Towards a strategy to combat the Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer (PSHB) invasion in South Africa.

Herron D.: The health of tomorrow’s forests depends on the actions of young forest scientists today.

Hulbert J.: Methods of public engagement in forest health research.

Hulbert J.: Non-scientist contributions to plant disease research in South Africa.

Hurley B.P.: Biocontrol in practice: managing Sirex noctilio in South Africa.

Hurley B.P.: Eucalypt insect pests in Africa: Spread, threats and opportunities for management.

Slippers B.: Interconnected global populations of forest pathogens created through anthropogenic spread.

Slippers B.: Insights from population genetics and genomics for the management of the invasive pest Sirex noctilio.

Slippers B.: Molecular tools advance the management of invasive gall-forming wasps associated with plantation forestry.

Posters:

Barnes I.: Population structure of the brown spot needle blight pathogen Lecanosticta acicola in Southeast Europe.

Herron D.: Fusarium circinatum on non-pine hosts enhance the global threat of pine pitch canker.

Queffelec J.: Influence of reproductive biology on the invasive capacity of Hymenoptera.

Wingfield B.D.: Comparison of genomes in closely related Ceratocystis pathogens of trees.

Wingfield B.D.: QTLs and the genes linked to growth rate differences in Fusarium circinatum, the pine pitch canker pathogen.

Wingfield M.J.: A high resolution phylogeny from the genome data of Teratosphaeria leaf and stem pathogens.

Wingfield M.J.: Undetected endophytic fungi as a quarantine risk to commercial Eucalyptus plantations in Colombia.