Research Interests

My background as a population biologist and a plant pathologist leads me to take an intergrated and interdisciplinary approach to questions on the ecology of plant diseases in natural ecosystems. I am interested not only in the effect of pathogens on plant community structure as mediated through processes such as succession and maintenance of diveristy, but also in the effect of plant community structure on pathogen characteristics such as rates of transmission and levels of virulence. My current research focuses on the transmission biology of Phytophthora ramorum, the casual agent of Sudden Oak Death, in northern California. Although P. ramorum kills oak an tanoak trees, it reproduces most readily from non-lethal infections on leaves of bay laurel (Umbellularia californica). Bay laurel and susceptible oak and tanoak species grow in a mosaic of forest types within the geographic range of P. ramorum. I am presently investigating how these different forest types (e.g. mixed-evergreen vs. tanoak-redwood) and their associated climactic conditions affect P. ramorum summer survival and winter infection in bay laurel leaves, consequently leading to different patterns of inoculum production in these forests.