The BSPP “Plant Pathology Promotion Fund” awarded a grant to pay for illustrations for our forthcoming text book “Plant pathology and plant diseases” which will be published this autumn by CABI. The funding made it possible to commission the Norwegian illustrator Hermod Karlsen to draw a number of exquisite illustrations, especially of life and disease cycles, for the mycology chapters in the book, an example of which can be seen overleaf.
The book was a by-product of support by the Nordic Council of Ministers over nearly four decades to the agricultural faculties and universities who taught and researched in plant pathology in the main four Nordic countries. The authors met through this network, either as PhD students or teachers on PhD courses, and later collaborated on a (sadly short-lived) MSc programme in plant pathology through the NOVA network (The Nordic Forestry, Veterinary and Agricultural University Network). The thoughts for this book began to emerge during the MSc programme since we felt that other books on the market were too old or took examples that were not always relevant or ideal for European conditions.
After years of vague agreement to do something, we commenced serious writing about 5 years ago. The roots and structure of the book delve deeply into our long careers as teachers of plant pathology with each our specialisation. Three years ago, we approached CABI and have since held at least 5 intense but enjoyable writing workshops of 2 to 5 days in three countries where we were refreshed and found the energy needed to complete the project.
We are very grateful to nine other, mostly Nordic authors (also English and French), who have contributed with their specialist knowledge in topics such as chemical and biological control and the characteristics of the diverse organisms which can cause disease. Numerous other colleagues from around the world, and some of our students, have provided other kinds of help either by refereeing our chapters or providing photos and other illustrations.
There is little funding available to support this type of activity. The BSPP funding is therefore particularly welcome since the authors do not possess the artistic ability to make illustrations of this quality. Other grants have paid for travel to our workshops, which we have held in our own homes and holiday homes.
As we all know, the United Nations (UN) has declared the year 2020 to be the ‘International Year of Plant Health’. This book is our contribution, and we hope that some of you will find it to be a worthy contribution.
David B Collinge, University of Copenhagen
Tronsmo AM, Collinge DB, Djurle A, Munk L, Yuen J, Tronsmo A (2020) Plant Pathology and Plant Diseases 440 pp CABI International, Wallingford. ISBN 9781789243178. https://www.cabi.org/bookshop/ book/9781789243178
CAPTION: David B Collinge (University of Copenhagen), Annika Djurle, Jonathan Yuen (both Swedish Agricultural University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala), Anne Marte Tronsmo, Arne Tronsmo (both Norwegian University of Life Sciences) and Lisa Munk (University of Copenhagen) at the final writers workshop, Møn, Denmark in August 202
