Dr Brett Summerell ‘Root rots, rusts and water moulds: Invasive diseases in botanic gardens’

 Plant diseases are the bane of many botanic gardens causing death, destruction and difficulty in maintaining their collections. Conversely these same diseases may also provide an opportunity for botanic gardens to provide a major contribution in plant conservation as a sentinel for understanding the impact of these diseases on specific species. This talk will focus on some of the key plant diseases affecting Australian plants in botanic gardens (and home gardens) and the role botanic gardens play in combating them.

Brett Summerell is the Deputy Executive Director at the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust in Sydney and a plant pathologist focused on the impact of fungal diseases on the Australian flora.