Since the 2007 meeting a number of new Phytophthora species have been described. A number of these appear to be associated with woodland and forest tree declines, but may have been misidentified in earlier work. These will be reviewed and updates provided. At least two ‘Fishing for Phytophthora’ activities have been undertaken and new Phytophthora species together with hybrid species are evident. Significant community driven projects are being undertaken in Western Australia and elsewhere relating to mapping, prioritisation of areas for hygiene and phosphite activities, effective communication to the wider public and initiatives to obtain on-going funding to Phytophthora management. Eradication and containment activities are now being put into practice in wild land communities in Western Australia. At the research level there are a number of applied and basic research studies on understanding, Phytophthora in nurseries and urban parklands and reserves, Phytophthora and fire, host resistance, the action of phosphite at a molecular and biochemical level, and how phosphite induces a phosphate starvation response in plants and possible implications. These research activities and more will be reviewed.

Historically in Australia eucalypts have been harvested from native forests to meet both the demand for hardwood and chips. In the last 20 years the scenario has changed and there has been a rapid expansion in the area of eucalypt plantations in Australia from less than 50 000 ha in 1985 to over 500 000 ha today. These plantations have primarily been established to supply woodchips for export. The largest areas (over 350 000 ha of predominantly Eucalyptus -ystemic) have been established in the Mediterranean climate of Western Australia, South Australia, and Victoria followed by approximately 100000 ha of predominantly E. nitens in the temperate climate of Tasmania. More recently, plantations have been established in sub-tropical Australia. Unlike exotic eucalypt plantations which flourish in the absence of native pests and diseases, the plantation estate in Australia has been faced with a multitude of indigenous pests and diseases. In addition, Australian plantations are also threatened by pathogens that have arisen on exotic eucalypt plantations but could be introduced to Australia. Faced with all these challenges one may imagine that the industry in Australia is under severe threat. However, variation in pest and disease impact is observed in taxa and provenance trials and selection of superior lines will assist in a sustainable plantation industry in the future. The major eucalyptus diseases present in Australia and those that exist overseas and pose a threat to the Australian industry will be discussed.

The Vegetation Health Survey (VHS) at the Department of the Environment, Western Australia has a Phytophthora collection extending back to 1979. Isolates in this collection have been recovered during routine monitoring on natural ecosystems in Western Australia for the presence of Phytophthora cinnamomi. Through molecular reevaluation of this collection we have subsequently described 11 new Phytophthora species and the diseases associated with them and additional descriptions are underway. Elsewhere in Australia, however, there is extremely limited information on Phytophthora diversity within natural ecosystems. Using modern molecular techniques such as Next Generation Sequencing, it is possible to determine Phytophthora species diversity from environmental soil samples. In this study, DNA was extracted from soils obtained from 700 locations around Australia. ITS1 amplicons were generated using Phytophthora specific primers (Scibetta et al. 2012) adapted for NGS by Santi Català and sequenced on a Roche Junior GS platform. For 50 samples roots and rhizosphere soil were extracted separately. Results reveal an astonishing diversity, several new species and very different species profiles when comparing roots and rhizosphere soil from the same location. Species described and known only from Western Australia have an Australia-wide distribution raising intriguing questions in regards to origin and movement of species.