The IUFRO Working Party 2.08.03 Eucalypt Conference took place in the Chinese city of Zhanjiang in the Guangdong Province of the country from 21-24 October. This meeting focuses on all aspects of eucalypt cultivation and takes place approximately every four years. Scientists, foresters and other stakeholders from 20 countries, representing 204 institutions were present at the meeting.

Prof. Mike Wingfield, Prof. Jolanda Roux, Prof. Xudong Zhou, Dr Gudrun Dittrich-Shröder, Dr ShuaiFei Chen, Dr Brett Hurley, and Luke Jimu of the Tree Protection Co-Operative Programme (TPCP) team of FABI attended the meeting and presented two invited talks (Mike and Jolanda), three scientific presentations and multiple scientific posters on tree health issues. A poster by ShuaiFei, Mike and co-authors was elected as one of the two best posters at the congress, showing that its not only students who can successfully prepare winning posters! Mike, as IUFRO president, was also bestowed with a very prestigious honorary professorship by the Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF).

Presentations:

Mike Wingfield: Reflections on thirty years of Eucalyptus health research: looking backwards, looking forwards.

Jolanda Roux: One step forward, two steps back: managing eucalypt pests for sustainable forestry.

Brett Hurley: Global patterns of spread of invasive insects on eucalypts.

Luke Jimu: Three genetic groups amongst African isolates of the Eucalyptus stem canker pathogen Teratosphaeria zuluensis.

ShuaiFei Chen: Eucalyptus plantation disease research in China: past, present and future.

Posters: TPCP

Luke Jimu, Michael J. Wingfield, Eddie Mwenje, Jolanda Roux: Diseases of Eucalyptus species in Zimbabwe.

Kwabena Baffoe, Jeff Garnas, Bernard Slippers, Michael J. Wingfield, Brett Hurley. Field establishment of Selitrichodes neseri (Eulophidae), a biological control agent of Leptocybe invasa (Eulophidae).

Samantha Bush, Bernard Slippers, Brett Hurley. Host preference of the invasive Glycaspis brimblecombei Moore (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) in South Africa.

Esna du Plessis, Alistair McTaggart, Jolanda Roux: Identification of Calonectria species causing disease of Eucalyptus clones in Ghana.

Gabrielle Carstensen, Stephanus Venter, ShuaiFei Chen, Michael J. Wingfield, Teresa A. Coutinho: Identification of two Ralstonia species associated with bacterial wilt of Eucalyptus.

Marc Bouwer, Bernard Slippers, Michael J. Wingfield, Egmont Rohwer. Pheromone release rates and ratios from an artificial pheromone Ispenser for the Eucalyptus infesting cossid moth, Coryphodema tristis.

Gudrun Dittrich-Shröder, Brett Hurley, Michael J. Wingfield, Simon Lawson, Helen Nahrung, Bernard Slippers: Population genetic analysis reveals a complex global invasion history for the Eucalyptus gall wasp, Leptocybe invasa (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae).

Posters: CERC-FABI Tree Protection Programme

ShuaiFei Chen, GuoQing Li, FeiFei Liu, Michael J. Wingfield: A new genus of Cryphonectriaceae causes stem disease on native Rhodomyrtus tomentosa (Myrtaceae) in South China and possibly threatens Eucalyptus propagation.

QianLi Liu, GuoQing Li, Michael J. Wingfield, ShuaiFei Chen. Genetic diversity and pathogenicity of Botrytis cinerea from diseased Eucalyptus seedlings in South China.

QuoQing Li, ShuaiFei Chen. Identification and distribution of Botryosphaeriaceae from Eucalyptus plantations in China.

JieQiong Li, GuoQing Li, Michael J. Wingfield, ShuaiFei Chen. Species of Calonectria infecting Eucalyptus in China: High genetic diversity and increasing importance.

Posters: TPCP co-authors

Yani Japarudin, Mahadir Lapammu, Agustan Alwi, Jeremy Brawner, David Boden, Michael J. Wingfield. Optimising the performance of Eucalyptus pellita in the wet tropics of Borneo.