World-renowned forest entomologist and plant pathologist Prof. Kier Klepzig visited FABI on 12 July. During his visit he presented a seminar entitled “Resistant tree or resilient ecosystem? Forest insects and pathogens in Longleaf Pine”.  Prof. Klepzig is a long-time collaborator of the Institute and has previously visited FABI to present at the annual meeting of the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP). Amongst other visits, he participated in an International Sirex workshop hosted by FABI during May 2007 and which led to the book “The Sirex woodwasp and its fungal symbiont: Research and management of a worldwide invasive pest” edited by Prof. Bernard Slippers, Prof. Peter de Groot and Prof. Michael Wingfield, Springer, 2012

Prof. Klepzig is the Director of the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Centre at Ichauway in southwest Georgia, USA, where amongst other responsibilities he oversees the conservation, research and educational programs. These programs include the stewardship of the 30,000-acre Ichauway site, graduate student co-sponsorship programs, natural resource education and outreach to landowners, students, policymakers, and public agencies, and five long-term research projects. His personal research interests include forest entomology, forest pathology, mycology and insect and microbial diversity.

Kier’s presentation provided a fascinating overview of his research activities at the Jones Centre, focussing on the impact of bark beetles and fungal pathogens on Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris). Work at the Ichauway site has been instrumental in restoring the Longleaf Pine to the natural ecosystem in a site that is surrounded by intensive commercial irrigation farming operations. Longleaf Pine ecosystems have declined massively in the tree’s native range in the south eastern USA due to development, agriculture and through replacement by other faster growing Pine species for commercial harvesting.