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Beyond Myrtle Rust news

  1. Myrtle rust find reported in Christchurch

    The recent find of myrtle rust on a mature hedge in residential Christchurch marks a new southern point for the likely establishment of the disease. Previous sightings in this area have been on plants purchased in nurseries in other regions and relocated to Christchurch.

    David Havell, a technical ...

  2. Trans-Tasman collaboration unlocks genetic secrets behind myrtle rust

    In a trans-Tasman collaboration, scientists have sequenced the genome of Austropuccinia psidii, the fungus responsible for the disease myrtle rust, and produced the world’s largest assembled fungal genome.

  3. Alby Marsh - bringing people together to help fight myrtle rust

    “There’s a saying in Maoridom,” says Alby Marsh, Māori Relationship Manager at Plant & Food Research (PFR). “Kāore te kūmara e kōrero mō tōna ake reka - the kumara doesn’t talk about how sweet it is. The hardest part for me about interviews like this is talking about myself.”

    Alby lets his life’s ...

  4. Mature native trees now dying

    The death of a mature ramarama (Lophomyrtus bullata) tree on the East Cape. Image: Roanne Sutherland, Scion

    The first known case of mature tree death due to myrtle rust infection has been observed in the East Cape of Aotearoa New Zealand, suggesting localized extinction for some native myrtles coul...

  5. Field work season ramping up for the Beyond Myrtle Rust programme

    Young Lophomyrtus bullata (ramarama) plants in dense Taranaki forest, awaiting examination by the Beyond Myrtle rust team.

    After a year of interruptions by COVID-19 lockdowns, researchers from the ‘Ecosystem Impacts’ research aim of the Beyond Myrtle Rust Programme are embarking on the first fieldw...

  6. Student sets his sights on Myrtaceae vines

    Master's student Hone Ropata is researching how myrtle rust could impact aka (vine) species, while working as a part of the Plant & Food research team. We had a chat to learn more about his mahi.

  7. Marley Ford, a student of ecology's underdogs

    Study set to reveal friendly fungal root associates of ramarama, a species hard-hit by myrtle rust

  8. Microscopic epiphytes may help in the war against myrtle rust

    Fungi and bacteria associating with native myrtle plants could slow the spread of the potentially fatal disease. Researcher Hayley Ridgway discusses how.

  9. Researchers predict refuges from myrtle rust

    Researchers identify 'refugia' where myrtle species may escape the onslaught of the disease in a new paper published in the Journal of Applied Ecology

  10. Seeing the trees in the forest: understanding the role of myrtles in New Zealand’s ecosystems

    Understanding, predicting, and managing the impacts of a plant disease requires knowledge of the host. With myrtle rust now well established in New Zealand, attention is turning to the hosts of the disease: plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Of the studies being conducted under the Ecosystem Im...

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