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BSPP1996: Unlocking the Future: Information Technology in Plant Pathology
1st September 1996
President: Peter R Scott
The BSPPs Presidential Meeting in December 1996 was Unlocking the Future: information Technology in Plant Pathology, the President at the time being Dr Peter Scott. The meeting was held with the Systematics Association (President: Stephen Blackmore) at the University of Kent and included computer based species identification to mark the 21st Anniversary of the 1975 Symposium on Biological Identification with Computers. Highlights included an open forum ‘Biology and Information Technology – the Road Ahead‘ with Professor Sir Robert May and Professor Peter Cochrane.
The book of the conference
A book, Information Technology, Plant Pathology and Biodiversity edited by Peter Scott, Paul Bridge, Peter Jeffries and David Morse, based on the Conference is available from CAB International.
Click here to view all the abstracts from the sessions below
Plenary session 1
Chair: N. Hardwick (President Elect, BSPP)
Presidential Address: The incredible pace of change: Information Technology in support of plant pathology
P. Scott
Systematics Association keynote paper: Development of computer-based systems in systematics
P. Sneath
Plenary session 2 – Handling facts to produce information
Chair: D. Ingram (Vice-President, BSPP)
Handling the information explosion: the challenge of data management
J. Anderson
The biological reference system: specifying, keeping track and accessing data on organisms
F. Bisby
Keeping pathogens in their place: international plant quarantine databases
I. Smith
Informatic and experimental approaches to the elucidation of novel gene functions
S. Oliver
Where from here?
S. Jones
Parallel session 3A: Support for decision making
Chair: G. Norton
PC-Plant Protection – a need-based decision support system for crop protection in Denmark
B. Secher & N.S. Murali
The use of IT in marker-assisted disease resistance breeding
W. Beeversdorf
Developing a model of expertise for a taxonomic expert system
M. Edward
Where from here?
J. Mumford
Parallel session 3B: Computer-based species identification: Applications I
Chair: P. Sneath
Computer-based keys for botanical identification
R. Pankhurst
Identification of yeasts through computer-based systems
R. Payne
Probabilistic identification systems for bacteria
T. Bryant
A general structure for biological databases
J. Diederich, R. Fortuner, J. Milton
Plenary session 4: Computer-based species identification
Chair: Z.R. Shen
Systems for computer-based multi-access keys
M. Dallwitz, T. A. Paine & E. J. Zurcher
Archiving biodiversity
P. Schalk
Images as a basis for identification
D. Roberts, G. Novarino, G. Kennaway & S. Hope
Garrett Memorial Lecture: Building models of epidemics to help take decisions
M. Jeger
Posters
A plant virus notebook for IBM-compatible computers
J. Antoniw
Automated ribotyping creates a European article numbering system for microorganisms
J. Banks
Dade Microscan 2.5hr system
S. Bascomb
Investigations into the classification of rhododendron powdery mildew using molecular biology and scanning electron microscopy
P. Beales and A.M. Hall
MORPH, an integrated forecasting model launcher
Andrew Binks, Paul Sayers and John Clarkson
Species 2000: indexing the world’s known species
F. Bisby
LegumeWeb: access to the world database of legumes
F. Bisby
APPLESCAB: pest management game
P. Blaise
Colour analysis of Lepidoptera for species identification
E.D. Chesmore and S. Flandin
DELTA and INTKEY
M. J. Dallwitz, T. A. Paine and E. J. Zurcher
A computerized identification system for poisonous plants and fungi
E.A. Dauncey, V.S.G. Murray, T.G.J. Rayner and D.A. Shah-Smith
VIDEdB
A.J. Gibbs
DAINet: an extensive information system for food, agriculture and forestry on the Internet
Katja Hasky-Guenther
Identification of trees in Borneo
J.K. Jarvie
Making books interactive: an electronic experiment
P. Jones
The Plant Pathology Internet Guide Book
T. Kraska
The German Phytomedical Society on the Internet – DPG Online
T. Kraska
Image capture, analysis and archiving as an aid to fungal diagnosis
C. Lane
Environmental Management in Agriculture
K. Lewis and A.M. Hall
The pictorial computerized identification system BIKEY as a part of the DIALOBIS biological encyclopaedias on CD-ROM
A. Lobanov, M. Dianov, A. Ryss & W. Schilow
GENCOMEX, a computerized key to identify the genera of Asteraceae of Mexico
M. Murgua, J. Villaseor
Multi-media tools for diagnosing and managing pest and disease problems
G. Norton
Computer-based keys for botanical identification
R. Pankhurst
GENSTAT for Windows
R. Payne
Pl@nteInfo – A WWW-based platform for the dissemination of up-to-date crop protection information
B. Secher, A. Jensen & J. Hansen
The Crop Protection Compendium
A. Sweetmore, C.Y.L. Schotman, Bin-Cheng Zhang, S.A. Rudgard and P.R. Scott
ADEM – an integrated disease warning system for apple
XiangMing XU
Parallel session 5A: Passing on information in education and training
Chair:
Electronic teaching aids for students and practitioners
G. Schumann
Making books interactive: an electronic experiment
P. Jones
Crop protection: information technology and ecosystem health
Z.R. Shen
Computer games and other tricks to train field pathologists
T. Stewart
Where from here?
P. Schalk
Parallel session 5B: Computer-based species identification: Applications II
Chair: R. Pankhurst
Computerized insect identification: a comparison of differing approaches and problems
I. White & G. Sandlant
Modelling taxonomic descriptions for identification
J. Lebb
GENCOMEX, a computerized key to identify the genera of Asteraceae of Mexico
M. Murgua, J. Villaseor
The BEG Expert System – A multimedia identification system for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
J. C. Dodd & S Rosendahl
Session 6: P.H. Gregory paper-reading competition for young researchers
The genetics and pathogenicity of pigment mutants of the take-all fungus Gaeumannomyces graminis
C.P. Kelly, A.E. Obsourne and C.E. Caten
Identification of species of Pestalotiopsis using artificial neural networks based on spore morphometric data
A. Morgan
Cloning a gene which encodes a glycoprotein present at the fungal-plant interface formed in the Colletotrichum – bean interaction
S. Perfect, R. O’Connel and J. Green
Effect of cultivar resistance and metalaxyl treatment on oospore formation in potato late blight (Phytophthora infestans)
K. Hanson
Stem tip dieback of cassava: identification and virulence of the causal organism
E. Moses
Plenary session 7 Knowledge dissemination
Chair: A. Mangstl
Multi-media tools for diagnosing and managing pest and disease problems
G. Norton
CD-ROM as a dissemination medium in practice: crop protection case studies in Africa
S. M’Boob
Networked communications in extension
R. Ausher
Modern communication needs in agriculture for developing countries
S. Nagarajan
Electronic publishing in plant pathology: predicting the unpredictable
R. Campbell
Parallel session 8A: Interpreting information to produce knowledge
Chair:
Making sense of variation: taxonomic information systems
R. Allkin
Building an information system to interpret diversity in Colletotrichum
J. Bailey, C. Nash, L. Morgan, F. Malweygo, G. Rivera & M. Dron
Keeping track of where pathogens are: Geographic Information Systems
P. Blaise
Integrated information management: a multimedia system for crop protection
A. Sweetmore, C.Y.L. Schotman, Bin-Cheng Zhang, S.A. Rudgard and P.R. Scott
Where from here?
A. Newton
Parallel session 8B: Computer-based species identification: Novel developments
Chair: R. Payne
Development of neural networks for identification
L. Boddy, C. Morris and A. Morgan
Automated analysis of insect sounds using TESPAR and expert systems – a new method for species identification
E.D. Chesmore, M.D. Swarbrick and O.P. Femminella
Mixing elements from different identification systems
P. Bridge
The role of the user in computer-based species identification
G. Tardivel & D. Morse
OPEN FORUM: BIOLOGY AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: THE ROAD AHEAD
Chair: The Vice-Chancellor, University of Kent at Canterbury
Biological science and Information Technology
PROFESSOR SIR ROBERT MAY (Chief Scientific Advisor, UK Office of Science and Technology)
The IT revolution: how it may support or disturb biology
PROFESSOR PETER COCHRANE (Head of Advanced Applications and Technology, British Telecom Laboratories, Martlesham Heath)
Practical and tutorial sessions
Everything you always wanted to know about IT but were afraid to ask
David Morse and Gill Tardivel (Computing Laboratory, University of Kent, Canterbury)
included:
- The Internet and the World Wide Web – led by John Dodd (Research School of Biosciences, University of Kent at Canterbury) and Adrian Newton (Scottish Crop Research Institute, Dundee)
- Multi-access keys – led by Ian White (CABI International Institute of Entomology, London)
- Neural networks – led by Colin Morris (University of Glamorgan)
- Crop Protection Compendium – led by Anne Sweetmore & Helen Crowson (CAB INTERNATIONAL)
- Databases for the innocent – led by Richard White (University of Southampton)
- Java: Just Another Vague Acronym? – led by Andrew Peel (University of Kent, Canterbury)
- DELTA: User’s perspectives. Keys to trees of Borneo – led by J. Jarvie (Arnold Arboretum, Harvard)
- Surfing the Net – led by Jerry Cooper (CABI International Mycological Institute, Egham), Adrian Newton (Scottish Crop Research Institute, Dundee), Bob Carling (Chapman & Hall) and Terry Stewart (Massey University, New Zealand)
