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Beyond Myrtle Rust news

  1. New insight into carbon fluxes between restoration strategies

    Did you know that soil is a huge carbon reservoir? Plants take up CO2 from the atmosphere and much of that carbon ends up in the soil. Carbon is then released from the soil through respiration of plant roots, mycorrhizal fungi, and the rhizosphere, and also through the decomposition of organic matte...

  2. Dynamite discovery for myrtle rust research

    A recent study looking at the molecular foundation of myrtle rust reveals how the pathogen breaks into a host plant and how the host plant responds. This insight will inform the design of useful tools to prevent future break-ins and safeguard plant health.

  3. Myrtle rust – some good news for a bad anniversary

    May marks the 7-year anniversary of the detection of myrtle rust on mainland New Zealand. Beyond Myrtle Rust reports back on the unprecedented levels of myrtle rust infections found on pōhutukawa trees in Auckland during the 2022/2023 summer: this past summer, trees seem to have caught a break.

  4. The colourful, culturable seed-borne microbiome of pōhutukawa

    Congratulations to our PhD student Vlad who has recently published a paper on the seed-borne microbiome of pōhutukawa in the New Zealand Journal of Botany! Jenny Leonard got to visit Vlad in the lab during his experiment. In this article, she talks about the paper and about meeting the microbes.

  5. Bruce Burns talks plant communities and research communities

    Every researcher and research institution involved in myrtle rust research brings a unique perspective that helps uncover new information about our myrtles, the plant communities they occupy, and the way they are impacted by disease. In this article, we spoke with Bruce Burns about his perspective o...

  6. Summer students: gaining experience while contributing new knowledge

    Over the years of the programme, Beyond Myrtle Rust has had the privilege and pleasure of hosting current and recently completed undergraduates for summer studentships. This year, our two summer students were Rebecca Greenwood and Cecilia Beck (Chichi). Thank you Rebecca and Chichi for helping us ou...

  7. Four students share their most interesting myrtle rust insights

    Students make up a large part of the workforce in the myrtle rust research space in Aotearoa. We asked our students “What is the most interesting thing you’ve learned over the course of your research?” Here’s what four of them had to say.

  8. Luitgard Schwendenmann, training the next generation

    Luitgard Schwendenmann, Associate Professor in the School of Environment at the University of Auckland, has been a longtime supervisor, supporter and champion of students in the myrtle rust and kauri dieback research spaces. We spoke to Luitgard about the shifts in her research interests, the import...

  9. Q&A with Jenny Leonard

    Jenny Leonard is a science communicator who has been working with the Beyond Myrtle Rust Programme for over four years. This year, we were able to send her to her first Science Communicators Association of New Zealand (SCANZ) conference, where she presented some of the lessons she learned behind the...

  10. Beyond Myrtle Rust represents at the NZ Microbiological Society Conference

    The New Zealand Microbiology Society conference was held from 20-23 November at the University of Auckland. Beyond Myrtle Rust programme leader Mahajabeen Padamsee and PhD student Vladislav Kholostiakov each presented talks on their research. Additionally, Beyond Myrtle Rust invited Robert Park, an ...

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