Dear colleague, herewith I like to inform you about the upcoming IUFRO Pine Wilt Disease unit symposium which will be held in Braunschweig/Germany from 15th to 18th October 2013. The symposium PWD 2013 is a joint action of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) unit 7.02.10 Pine Wilt Disease (PWD) and the group of the EU-research project REPHRAME "Development of improved methods for detection, control and eradication of pine wood nematode" in cooperation with The German Scientific Society for Plant Protection and Plant Health and the Julius Kühn-Institut, Federal Research centre for cultivated plants. Since the last IUFRO Symposium in Nanjing/China in 2009, several expert groups in the whole world - among other things - worked intensively on the following topics: · Impact on the international trade as well as economic consequences in the infested areas including corresponding modeling of outbreak scenarios and pathways, · Pathway analysis and modeling/predicting of pine wilt expression across eco-climatic zones taking account of latency , · Biology of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus and other Bursaphelenchus species including their interaction with bacteria and fungi and their impact on host trees, · Diagnostic methods aimed to a fast and reliable determination of PWN in pure culture and in plant tissue as well as in laboratory and under field conditions, · Examinations on the tree physiology and resistance characteristics of host trees, · PWN and vector association, vector dispersal capacity and strategies for vector control, · Behavior and population dynamics in infested trees, · Non-vector transmission and treatment options for wood and wood products, · Management strategies for PWD. The aim of the symposium is to bundle the actual research progress and the management of the pine wood nematode and its vector beetles and to enhance the scientific exchange and thus to present the research results to a broad interested group of scientists, disease managers and decision makers. You are invited to submit papers for oral presentations as well as for posters covering all aspects around Pine Wood Nematode and Pine Wilt Disease. All information including registration is available at: http://dpg.phytomedizin.org/de/pwdc2013/. The deadline for abstract submission is 30. June 2013. Early bird fee payment is until 31 July 2013. The organization committee would be grateful if you could share this email with people you think could be interested to participate. Thank you! I hope to see you in Braunschweig! With best regards for the local organizing board Thomas Schroeder Dr. Thomas Schroeder Julius Kühn-Institut, Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants Institute for National and International Plant Health Messeweg 11-12 D-38104 Braunschweig Germany Tel.: +49 531 299 3381 Fax: +49 531 299 3007 Email: thomas.schroeder(a)jki.bund.de URL: http://pflanzengesundheit.jki.bund.de http://www.jki.bund.de