Eirian Jones | |
|---|---|
 Jones in 2020 | |
| Born | Elizabeth Eirian Jones |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | Lincoln University |
Elisabeth Eirian Jones is a New Zealand phytopathologist,and a full professor at Lincoln University,specialising in sustainable control strategies for cropping industries.
After a BSc(Hons) at the Manchester Metropolitan University,Jones completed a PhD titled Comparative behaviour of mycoparasitic Pythium species at the University of Edinburgh. [1] Jones then moved to the University of Warwick,before being appointed to Lincoln University in New Zealand. She was promoted to full professor in 2022. [2]
Her main research focus is on plant pathogens,particularly woody trunk and root pathogens in horticultural crops such as grapevines. She is part of the Bioprotection Aotearoa Centre of Research Excellence based at Lincoln University. [3]
Jones has been President of the New Zealand Plant Protection Society. [2] [4]
The standard author abbreviation E.E.Jones is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name. [5]
The Oomycetes, or Oomycota, form a distinct phylogenetic lineage of fungus-like eukaryotic microorganisms within the Stramenopiles. They are filamentous and heterotrophic, and can reproduce both sexually and asexually. Sexual reproduction of an oospore is the result of contact between hyphae of male antheridia and female oogonia; these spores can overwinter and are known as resting spores. Asexual reproduction involves the formation of chlamydospores and sporangia, producing motile zoospores. Oomycetes occupy both saprophytic and pathogenic lifestyles, and include some of the most notorious pathogens of plants, causing devastating diseases such as late blight of potato and sudden oak death. One oomycete, the mycoparasite Pythium oligandrum, is used for biocontrol, attacking plant pathogenic fungi. The oomycetes are also often referred to as water molds, although the water-preferring nature which led to that name is not true of most species, which are terrestrial pathogens.
Pythium is a genus of parasitic oomycetes. They were formerly classified as fungi. Most species are plant parasites, but Pythium insidiosum is an important pathogen of animals, causing pythiosis. The feet of the fungus gnat are frequently a vector for their transmission.
Bacillus amyloliquefaciens is a species of bacterium in the genus Bacillus that is the source of the BamHI restriction enzyme. It also synthesizes a natural antibiotic protein barnase, a widely studied ribonuclease that forms a famously tight complex with its intracellular inhibitor barstar, and plantazolicin, an antibiotic with selective activity against Bacillus anthracis.
Hygromycin B is an antibiotic produced by the bacterium Streptomyces hygroscopicus. It is an aminoglycoside that kills bacteria, fungi and other eukaryotic cells by inhibiting protein synthesis.
Pythium irregulare is a soil borne oomycete plant pathogen. Oomycetes, also known as "water molds", are fungal-like protists. They are fungal-like because of their similar life cycles, but differ in that the resting stage is diploid, they have coenocytic hyphae, a larger genome, cellulose in their cell walls instead of chitin, and contain zoospores and oospores.
Pythium ultimum is a plant pathogen. It causes damping off and root rot diseases of hundreds of diverse plant hosts including maize, soybean, potato, wheat, fir, and many ornamental species. P. ultimum belongs to the peronosporalean lineage of oomycetes, along with other important plant pathogens such as Phytophthora spp. and many genera of downy mildews. P. ultimum is a frequent inhabitant of fields, freshwater ponds, and decomposing vegetation in most areas of the world. Contributing to the widespread distribution and persistence of P. ultimum is its ability to grow saprotrophically in soil and plant residue. This trait is also exhibited by most Pythium spp. but not by the related Phytophthora spp., which can only colonize living plant hosts.
Pythium graminicola is a plant pathogen infecting cereals.
Pythium myriotylum is a soil-borne oomycete necrotroph that has a broad host range, this means that it can infect a wide range of plants.
Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a plant pathogenic fungus and can cause a disease called white mold if conditions are conducive. S. sclerotiorum can also be known as cottony rot, watery soft rot, stem rot, drop, crown rot and blossom blight. A key characteristic of this pathogen is its ability to produce black resting structures known as sclerotia and white fuzzy growths of mycelium on the plant it infects. These sclerotia give rise to a fruiting body in the spring that produces spores in a sac which is why fungi in this class are called sac fungi (Ascomycota). This pathogen can occur on many continents and has a wide host range of plants. When S. sclerotiorum is onset in the field by favorable environmental conditions, losses can be great and control measures should be considered.
Pythium dissotocum is a plant pathogen infecting strawberry and rice.
Sclerotinia minor is a plant pathogen infecting Chicory, Radicchio, carrots, tomatoes, sunflowers, peanuts and lettuce.
The laimosphere is the microbiologically enriched zone of soil that surrounds below-ground portions of plant stems; the laimosphere is analogous to the rhizosphere and spermosphere. The combining form laim- from laimos denotes a connecting organ (neck) while -sphere indicates a zone of influence. Topographically, the laimosphere includes the soil around any portion of subterranean plant organs other than roots where exuded nutrients stimulate microbial activities. Subterranean plant organs with a laimosphere include hypocotyls, epicotyls, stems, stolons, corms, bulbs, and leaves. Propagules of soil-borne plant pathogens, whose germination is stimulated by a plant exudates in the laimosphere, can initiate hypocotyl and stem rots leading to "damping-off". Pathogens commonly found to cause such diseases are species of Fusarium, Phoma, Phytophthora, Pythium, Rhizoctonia and Sclerotinia.
Helicobasidium is a genus of fungi in the subdivision Pucciniomycotina. Basidiocarps are corticioid (patch-forming) and are typically violet to purple. Microscopically they have auricularioid basidia. Asexual anamorphs, formerly referred to the genus Thanatophytum, produce sclerotia. Conidia-bearing anamorphs are parasitic on rust fungi and are currently still referred to the genus Tuberculina.
Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae is a bacterial pathovar that causes a serious blight of rice, other grasses, and sedges.
Stem rot is a disease caused by a fungus infection in the stem of crop plants. Fungus that causes stem rot are in the Rhizoctonia, Fusarium or Pythium genera. Stem rot can readily infect crops that are in their vegetative or flowering stages. The disease can survive up to five years in the soil. Symptoms of stem rot includes staining of infected area, reduced crop yield and crop failure. The disease can be spread through the use of unfiltered water as well as unsterilized tools. Also leaving previous dead roots in soil can increase the risk of stem rot. Spores can also enter the plant through injured stem tissue on the plant including from insect attacks. The fungus impedes stem functions like transporting nutrients. It can cause water to leak through the lesions of stem tissue. Common infected crop plants are soybeans and potatoes. An issue with maintaining this disease is the lack of management by crop producers. Producers of soybeans tend to not manage for the disease because it is not normally yield limiting in a large area. Fungicides can be used to manage the disease as well as burning the crop after harvest or letting it decompose.
A mycoparasite is an organism with the ability to parasitize fungi.
Geoffrey Thomas Sandford Baylis was a New Zealand botanist and Emeritus Professor specialising in plant pathology and mycorrhiza. He was employed at the University of Otago for 34 years undertaking research into plant and fungal ecology and symbiotic interactions, taxonomy and anatomy. He collected hundreds of plant specimens in the field and founded the Otago Regional Herbarium (OTA). He discovered the sole Pennantia baylisiana living on Three Kings Island in 1945, and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1961.
Alison Stewart is a New Zealand biologist who specialises in plant pathology. As of 2022 she is the CEO of the Foundation for Arable Research, based in Christchurch.
Anita Barbara Wreford is a New Zealand applied economist, and is a full professor at Lincoln University, specialising in climate change adaptation.
Margaret Christine Stanley is a New Zealand ecologist, and is a full professor at the University of Auckland, specialising in understanding and mitigating human environmental impacts, including the impacts of urban intensification and of introduced pests and weeds.
