Forest Health / Tree Pathology Research
Recent outbreaks of tree pests and diseases, including ash die-back and oak processionary moth, highlight the vulnerabilities in our forestry management practices, potentially leading to devastating changes in the landscape and significant economic impacts.
The Birmingham Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR) is at the forefront of addressing these challenges. BIFoR's research focuses on understanding tree defense mechanisms and developing innovative strategies to bolster tree resistance against current and future climatic conditions. By employing advanced tools from biomedical science and complex systems theory, BIFoR is pioneering laboratory research to mitigate the risks to forest health and prevent such crises.
The University of Birmingham boasts exceptional Environmental Science Facilities, highlighted by the Wolfson Advanced Glasshouses and the BIFoR FACE facility. The Glasshouses provide a cutting-edge, fully controlled experimental environment for interdisciplinary research in biology, chemical sciences, ecology, and more. Meanwhile, the BIFoR FACE facility offers unique opportunities to study mature trees and complex forest ecosystems in simulated future atmospheric CO2 conditions, greatly advancing research capabilities.
Explore the Wolfson Advanced Glasshouses
Research areas
Plant-pathogen-interactions & microbiology
Plant-pathogen-interactions & microbiology
Professor Rob Jackson's Biosciences lab focuses on studying bacterial pathogens of trees in the UK and also in one overseas territory in St Helena. Research currently taking place in the lab by the team includes:
- Metabolomics approaches to study tripartite solanaceous plant-microbe and tree - pathogen interactions
- Establishment of robust pathosystem models that underpin a detailed examination of infection and disease progression
- How new strains of pathogens emerge and evolve on trees
The team are also part of the UK Treescapes-funded project DiversiTree, which focuses on whether planting mixtures of tree species leads to increased microbial diversity on leaves and improved resilience to pathogens
Doctoral research areas include:
- examining risk of new disease outbreaks in a diseased population using ash as a model
- examining the impact of soil on tree health and disease progression
- evaluating the threat of Xylella on UK trees
- a study of tree disease on the Island of St Helena
- analysis of phage that infect oak pathogens and the dynamics of phage population changes and bacterial community change in a disease lesion
- development of phage biopesticide to control bacterial diseases of trees
- investigating the molecular basis of bacterial cherry canker pathogenesis through integrative omics approaches, including transcriptomics, metabolomics, and effector protein function analysis
Dr Graeme Kettles’ Biosciences lab is working towards understanding the molecular mechanisms that underpin oak resistance to fungal and bacterial diseases.
The team are also investigating how fungi and bacteria interact with each other in the oak tree microbiome, and subsequent heath-related consequences.
Dr Megan McDonald’s Biosciences group focuses on fungal pathogen and symbiont biology. For example, looking at relationships between certain types of fungi and root rot pathogens.
Microbial Ecology
Microbial Ecology
Acute Oak Decline and microbiomes
Professor James McDonald (Biosciences) is currently carrying out the UK’s largest analysis of oak-associated microbes to identify those that might cause disease as well as identify beneficial microbes, with a view to developing ways of using beneficial microbes to support oak health. The scale of the research effort is outstanding - 350 trees across 30 sites sampled in the UK.
Others in the team are researching:
- host microorganism interaction and microbiota with a focus on Acute Oak Decline
- the relationship of tree diversity and microbial diversity to ecosystem functionality
- investigating host pathogen interactions in declining oak trees
- the effect increasing CO2 levels have on tree microbial diversity).
Priming / immunity
Priming / immunity
Dr Estrella Luna-Diez’s Biosciences group focuses on priming in trees – an increased sensitivity to certain stimuli due to prior experience. The team, including have identified a defence elicitor that enhances resistance to powdery mildew which is not affected by elevated CO2.
Estrella is also PI for a UK Treescapes Programme funded project called MEMBRA, which is exploring if a tree's 'memory' can increase its resilience.
Estrella supervises PhD student Kieran Clark (Engineering) who has a new (2024) publication 'Vibrational spectroscopic profiling of biomolecular interactions between oak powdery mildew and oak leaves.'
Plant Physiology
Plant Physiology
Professor Christine Foyer (Biosciences) is an expert in plant metabolism and its regulation under optimal and stress conditions. She was named 4th on the list of Best Science and Agronomy Scientists in 2023.
Dr Florian Busch's Biosciences group, focuses on fundamental photosynthetic processes and how they acclimate under changing environments. The team is investigating CO2 diffusion inside leaves and its impact on photosynthetic carbon uptake.
Dr Andrew Plackett's (Biosciences) tree related research has focussed on understanding the effect of elevated carbon dioxide on the future success of oak reproduction. He is investigating whether elevated CO2 alters gene expression related to seasonal flowering and how flower and acorn production processes are affected over multiple years. A collaboration he has been part of produced a (2024) publication ' Carbon dioxide enrichment affected flower numbers transiently and increased successful post-pollination development stably but without altering final acorn production in mature pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L)'
Forest Genetics
Forest Genetics
The Forest Genetics team includes Dr Marco Catoni (Biosciences) who is studying the epigenetic regulation of plant development.