Dear colleagues, Many thanks to those who responded to my request regarding Mycosphaerella dearnessii (Lecanosticta acicola) that I sent at the end of February. Marion Kessler and Josef Janusek will contact you soon and provide you with detailled sampling instructions. I thought I send out our request again (see below). Maybe other colleagues are willing to assist in collecting samples? Thanks you very much for your efforts! With best regards, Thomas Kirisits ___________________________ Dear colleagues, On behalf of two Ph.D. students I would like to ask you for assistance of their Ph.D. projects! For molecular / population studies on Mycosphaerella dearnessii (anamorph Lecanosticta acicola), the causal agent of brown spot needle blight of pine species (Pinus spp.), we would be interested to obtain isolates / populations of isolates of this fungus and/or pine needles infected by M. dearnessii (preferably with conidiomata and/or ascomata pesent). In the latter case the isolations would be done by the Ph.D. candidates themselves. The work will be done as part of the Ph.D. theses of Marion Kessler (marion.kessler(a)bfw.gv.at ) at the Institute of Forest Entomology, Forest Pathology and Forest Protection (IFFF), University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Austria (advisors: Erhard Halmschlager, Thomas Cech & Christian Stauffer) and Josef Janousek (janousek.jose(a)gmail.com) at the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic (advisors: Libor Jankovsky & Christian Stauffer). Isolates and samples from all parts of the world would be very welcome! Of particular high interest are isolates from North, Central and South America. This is because the fungus is suspected to be native there and for comparisons of putative native versus introduced fungal populations American isolates would be essential. Brown spot is a common and important disease of Pinus palustris and other Pinus spp. in the south-east and central USA, so we hope that US colleagues will be willing to help in providing isolates/samples. But isolates/samples from other parts of the world, especially also from Asia, would be also very valuable. So far Marion and Josef have a good collection of isolates from several parts of Europe, but additional European material would also be good and can only strengthen the planned work. The EPPO diagnostic protocol for Mycosphaerella dearnessii contains a lot of useful information on diagnosing the disease and it also includes a number of excellent photographs of the symptoms: http://www.eppo.org/QUARANTINE/fungi/Mycosphaerella_dearnessii/pm7-46%281%2… In addition, Josef Janusek prepared a page with a few photos of symptoms of brown spot needle blight: http://picasaweb.google.cz/pepino96/BrownSpotNeedleBlightOfPines# If you are able and willing to help, please contact me. Marion Kessler and Josef Janusek will then provide you with further information (details for sampling, sending, import permit, etc.). Please do not hesitate to contact me in the case you have any further questions. Thank you very much in advance for your help! Your assistance will be invaluable and very much appreciated! With best regards, Thomas Kirisits ____________________________________________________________ Dr. Thomas Kirisits Institut für Forstentomologie, Forstpathologie und Forstschutz Department für Wald- und Bodenwissenschaften Universität für Bodenkultur (BOKU) Hasenauerstraße 38 A-1190 Wien Österreich Tel.: (++43) (1) 368-24-33 Fax: (++43) (1) 368-24-33 oder (++43) (1) 368-63-52-97 e-mail: thomas.kirisits(a)boku.ac.at Homepage: http://ifff.boku.ac.at/ Institute of Forest Entomology, Forest Pathology and Forest Protection Department for Forest and Soil Sciences BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Hasenauerstrasse 38 A-1190 Vienna Austria Tel.: (++43) (1) 368-24-33 Fax: (++43) (1) 368-24-33 or (++43) (1) 368-63-52-