Elms occur, both naturally and cultivated, throughout much of the temperate world. Because of their high tolerance to extreme growing conditions and their widespread distribution, elms have been widely planted in cities, towns and rural areas throughout North America and northern Europe. As such, their current demise due to several pandemics of Dutch elm disease has spurred a huge body of research on breeding for disease resistance, conservation and systematics. The Elms: Breeding, Conservation and Disease Management provides the current state of knowledge in these areas and is an important reference work for pathologists, breeders, taxonomists, and arborists.
This clearly written book is an ideal entry-level text for inquisitive college students who are majoring in a subject other than plant pathology, especially those in general education and core science classes. There is a student resources website organized around the book's topics that will help bring the stories of plant diseases to life through podcasts, exercises, and other teaching tools."--pub. desc.
Fungal diseases have contributed to death and disability in humans, triggered global wildlife extinctions and population declines, devastated agricultural crops, and altered forest ecosystem dynamics. Despite the extensive influence of fungi on health and economic well-being, the threats posed by emerging fungal pathogens to life on Earth are often underappreciated and poorly understood. On December 14 and 15, 2010, the IOM's Forum on Microbial Threats hosted a public workshop to explore the scientific and policy dimensions associated with the causes and consequences of emerging fungal diseases.
Pandemics. The word conjures up images of horrific diseases sweeping the globe and killing everyone in their path. But such highly lethal illnesses almost never create pandemics. The reality is deadly serious but far more subtle. In Pandemics: What Everyone Needs to Know®, Peter Doherty, who won the Nobel Prize for his work on how the immune system recognizes virus-infected cells, offers an essential guide to one of the truly life-or-death issues of our age. In concise, question-and-answer format, he explains the causes of pandemics, how they can be counteracted with vaccines and drugs, and how we can better prepare for them in the future. Doherty notes that the term "pandemic" refers not to a disease's severity but to its ability to spread rapidly over a wide geographical area. Extremely lethal pathogens are usually quickly identified and confined. Nevertheless, the rise of high-speed transportation networks and the globalization of trade and travel have radically accelerated the spread of diseases. A traveler from Africa arrived in New York in 1999 carrying the West Nile virus; one mosquito bite later, it was loose in the ecosystem. Doherty explains how the main threat of a pandemic comes from respiratory viruses, such as influenza and SARS, which disseminate with incredible speed through air travel. The climate disruptions of global warming, rising population density, and growing antibiotic resistance all complicate efforts to control pandemics. But Doherty stresses that pandemics can be fought effectively. Often simple health practices, especially in hospitals, can help enormously. And research into the animal reservoirs of pathogens, from SARS in bats to HIV in chimpanzees, show promise for our prevention efforts. Calm, clear, and authoritative, Peter Doherty's Pandemics is one of the most critically important additions to the What Everyone Needs to Know® series. What Everyone Needs to Know® is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.
Plant Pathology presents information and advances in plant pathology including disease induction and development and disease resistance and control. This book is organized into two major parts encompassing 14 chapters that focus on diseases, pathogenicity, and pathogen variability. The first part of the book deals with general considerations of disease, the disease cycle, parasitism and pathogenicity, and the variability in pathogens. This is followed by a presentation of the mechanisms by which pathogens cause disease and plants resist disease. Core chapters focus on the effects of pathogen-produced enzymes, toxins, growth regulators, and polysaccharides on the structural organization and on the basic physiological processes of photosynthesis, translocation, and respiration. The chapters also discuss the defense mechanisms of the plant. Moreover, this book explains the genetics of host-parasite interaction, effects of environment on disease development, and control. The second part of the book deals with the infectious diseases caused by fungi, bacteria, parasitic higher plants, viruses, and nematodes. This part also looks into the noninfectious diseases caused by environmental factors. The diseases caused by each type of pathogen are discussed comprehensively as a group and are subsequently discussed individually in detail. This book includes diagrams of cycles for each disease to create visual images for better understanding of the disease and message retention. This book is ideal for students with introductory course in plant pathology.
