Plant Health - Global changes and sustainability

Recommended Prerequisites

Molecular Biology, Plant Physiology; Microbiology.

Teaching Methods

The general concepts and theoretical questions will be approached through face to face lectures, supported by audio-visual means and conferences given by specialists. Transposition to practice will be achieved through laboratory and field work, and theoretical-practical classes, using adequate software. The students will work on their own synthesis works, starting from situations identified during the field work and papers reading, and will present that work in seminars. This work will be considered in evaluating the students’ performance, together with a written exam.

Learning Outcomes

Plant Health was born from the need to mitigate impacts of pests and diseases affecting agronomic crops and forests, a mission that remains central to the rationale for this curricular unit. After attending the course, students should be equipped with a set of skills:

-Understand basic concepts and terminology in plant health

-Recognize the main groups of plant pathogens, understand their biology and ecology

-Identify the factors that contribute to the occurrence of disease and recognize the impact of global changes

-Understand the mechanisms of pathogenicity and defense

- Understand general concepts of diagnosis and epidemiology in the molecular era

-Identify symptoms, assess risk and understand different approaches to disease control

-Develop an integrated vision in plant health (One Health) and recognize future challenges

-Plan, organize and carry out lab and field work

- Communicate clearly and rigorously, search, analyze and use scientific information in the plant health domain.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Introduction to Plant health and plant pathology; Interactions plant-pathogen in the era of the genomics; Co-evolution of the plant-pest relation; How plant pests attack the plants and how plants defend against pathogens; The effect of pathogens on the plant physiology; Epidemiological models of invasion and persistance of pests; Management of plant pests - inegrative approach in plant diseases management; Control of diseases: the importance of diagnosis networks. Diseases caused by fungi; Diseases caused by bacteria; Diseases caused by virus; Diseases caused by insects; Diseases caused by nematodes; Case studies and current problems in Portugal; New emerging threats due to climate change and intensification of agriculture.

Head Lecturer(s)

António Manuel Santos Carriço Portugal

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Synthesis work: 50.0%
Exam: 50.0%

Bibliography

Livros/ Books

Agrios GN (2005) Plant Pathology. Elsevier Academic Press. 5ª edição.

Sinclair WA & Lyon HH (2005) Diseases of Trees and Shrubs. 2ª edição. Cornell University Press.

Ownley BH & Trigiano RN (2017) Plant Pathology – concepts and laboratory exercises, 3rd Edition CRC Press Taylor & Francis.

Lucas JA (2020) Plant Pathology and Plant Pathogens, 4th Edition Wiley-Blackwell.

Artigos/Articles

Brown JKM & Tellier A (2011) Plant-Parasite Coevolution: Bridging the Gap between Genetics and Ecology. Annu. Rev. Phytopathol. 49: 345-367

Garrett KA, Dendy SP, Frank EE, Rouse MN & Travers SE (2006) Climate change effects on plant disease: genomes to ecosystems. Annu. Rev. Phytopathol. 44: 489-509

Gordon TR & Leveau JHJ (2010) Plant pathology: a story about biology. Annu. Rev. Phytopathol. 48: 293-309

Lista de outros artigos, seleccionados em cada ano, incluindo casos de estudo e artigos de revisão. /List of other selected papers, updated each year, including case studies and reviews.