International blogs

Blog

Canker Stain of Plane Trees: A Silent Legacy of World War II

Canker stain of plane (caused by the fungus Ceratocystis platani) may be a rather obscure pathogen to most, but its story intertwines with one of history’s most turbulent chapters: World War II.

Duncan Allen  •  29 Apr 2025

Blog

BGCI and the IPSN: Botanic gardens in the fight against invasive plant threats

Miles Kitching looks at how Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) and the International Plant Sentinel Network (IPSN) have been working together to tackle threats to plant biodiversity

Miles Kitching  •  31 Oct 2022

Blog

Observatree attends the world’s first International Plant Health Conference

Colleagues from across the Observatree partnership, attended the world’s first International Plant Health Conference. Peter Crow, Observatree’s Project Manager, reflects on some of the conference’s key messages around the current and future global plant health challenges.

Peter Crow  •  17 Oct 2022

Blog

Emerald ash borer survey and detection: the Canadian experience

It's the International Year of Plant Health and our colleague from Canada give us details on their work with emerald ash borer. A highly destructive pest of ash trees.

Jon Sweeney, Erin Bullas-Appleton, Troy Kimoto & Ron Neville  •  22 Sep 2020

Blog

The role of citizen science in tree health in Slovenia

As part of the International Year of Plant Health, Observatree is hosting blogs from colleagues around the world who, like us, are working to slow the spread of invasive tree pests and diseases. This blog is from the Slovenian Forestry Institute who talk about their citizen science project LIFE ARTEMIS.

Simon Zidar and Dr Maarten de Groot  •  08 Apr 2020