CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/ 15_003/0000453

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Dr. Thomas Jung (TJ)

has more than 25 years of experience in plant pathology and is one of the most renowned Phytophthora experts in the world. He was awarded the Arnold-Sommerfeld Award of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Through his scientific career TJ has studied the diversity, ecology, pathogenicity and evolution of Phytophthora species, their impacts on natural and semi-natural ecosystems, their pathways and possible management and control options for Phytophthora diseases. His major scientific achievements were (1) the first evidences of Phytophthora species being involved in widespread forest declines in Europe; (2) the development of new methods for the isolation of Phytophthora spp. and for the assessment of fine root damages; (3) the coordination of the largest forest disease survey in European history (Alnus mortality in Bavaria); 4) coordination of a European survey in 2,000 nursery stands and 2,500 young plantations, demonstrating for the first time almost ubiquitous Phytophthora infestations and the importance of the nursery pathway in spread of Phytophthora pathogens to natural and managed ecosystems; (5) first demonstration of the interaction between invasive Phytophthora pathogens and climatic extremes triggering a large-scale epidemic forest decline (Fagus sylvatica); (6) the detection and description of more than 40 new Phytophthora species, 8 new Halophytophthora species and the new genus Nothophytophthora including 8 new Nothophytophthora species; and (7) the identification of the geographic origins of the invasive global forest pathogens Phytophthora ramorum, P. cinnamomi, P. plurivora and P. ×cambivora.. Stations in his professional career were the Technical University of Munich, the Bavarian State Institute of Forestry, the Centre for Phytophthora Science and Management (Murdoch University, Australia), the University of Extremadura (Plasencia, Spain), and the University of Algarve (Faro, Portugal).

TJ published 78 papers in international peer review journals and his current h index at Scopus is 34, with 4112 citations. He was speaker or keynote speaker at 20 international conferences and 14 meetings of international networks, and invited speaker at 41 research institutes and associations. TJ completed the supervision of 10 PhD and 7 Master students, supervises currently 3 PhD students, and gave training courses in Phytophthora methods for PhD students, Post-docs and senior researchers from 52 international research institutes. This extensive dedication to postgraduate training and his leading role in the international networks International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) Unit 7.02.09 Phytophthora in Forests and Natural Ecosystems (Co-Chair), EU COST Action FP 0801 – Established and Emerging Phytophthora: Increasing Threats to Woodland and Forest Ecosystems in Europe (working group leader) and COST Action FP 1002 – Pathway Evaluation and Pest Risk Management In Transport (Vice-chair) and his participation in the Oomycete Molecular Genetics Network (OMGN), the ‘European network on emerging diseases and invasive species threats to European Forest Ecosystems’ and in IUFRO Unit 7.03.12 Alien Invasive Species and International Trade enabled TJ to build up a large network that includes most of the leading international Phytophthora researchers.

TJ cooperated with many international research groups on a wide range of Phytophthora topics and conducted research in 19 European countries of Europe, in Australia, North America, Chile, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam. TJ participated in 21 national and 5 international research projects in 12 countries. He was the Principal Investigator of the exploratory project QuerResist Screening of Asian oak species for potential resistance to Phytophthora spp., funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), coordinated the Working Group ‘Detection and early warning of fungal and oomycete pathogens’ in the European BiodivERsA R&D project RESIPATH, participated in the Horizon 2020 project PONTE ‘Pest Organisms Threatening Europe’, and is the PI of the MendelU research team and Coordinator of the Task ‘Diversity and role of pathogens in restoration’ in the new BiodivERsA project RESTORESEAS ‘Marine forests of animals, plants and algae: nature-based tools to protect and restore biodiversity’.

Key publications

 

  • Jung, T., Cooke, D.E.L., Blaschke, H., Duncan, J.M., Osswald, W. 1999: Phytophthora quercina sp. nov., causing root rot of European oaks. Mycological Research 103: 785-798.
  • Jung, T., Blaschke H., Oßwald, W. 2000: Involvement of Phytophthora species in Central European oak decline and the effect of site factors on the disease. Plant Pathology 49: 706-718.
  • Jung T., Blaschke M. 2004: Phytophthora root and collar rot of alders in Bavaria: distribution, modes of spread, and possible management strategies. Plant Pathology 53: 197-208.
  • Jung T. 2009: Beech decline in Central Europe driven by the interaction between Phytophthora infections and climatic extremes. Forest Pathology 39: 73-94.
  • Jung, T., Burgess T.I. 2009: Re-evaluation of Phytophthora citricola isolates from multiple woody hosts in Europe and North America reveals a new species, Phytophthora plurivora sp. nov. Persoonia 22: 95-110.
  • Jung T., Stukely M.J.C., Hardy G.E.St.J., White D., Paap T., Dunstan W.A., Burgess, T.I. 2011: Multiple new Phytophthora species from ITS Clade 6 associated with natural ecosystems in Australia: evolutionary and ecological implications. Persoonia 26: 13-39.
  • Rea, A.J., Burgess, T.I., Hardy, G.E.St.J., Stukely, M.J.C., Jung, T. 2011: Two novel and potentially endemic species of Phytophthora associated with episodic dieback of kwongan vegetation in the south-west of Western Australia. Plant Pathology 60: 1055-1068.
  • Jung, T., Orlikowski, L., Henricot, B., et al. 2016: Widespread Phytophthora infestations in European nurseries put forest, semi-natural and horticultural ecosystems at high risk of Phytophthora diseases. Forest Pathology 46: 134–163.
  • Jung, T., Chang, T.-T., Bakonyi, J., Seress, D., Pérez-Sierra, A., Yang, X., Hong, C., Scanu, B., Fu, C.H., Hsueh, K.-L, Maia, C., Abad-Campos, P., Léon, M. , Horta Jung, M. 2016: Diversity of Phytophthora species in natural ecosystems of Taiwan and association with disease symptoms. Plant Pathology 66: 194-211.
  • Jung, T., Horta Jung, M., Scanu, B., Seress, D., Kovács, D.M., Maia, C., Pérez-Sierra, A., Chang, T.-T., Chandelier, A., Heungens, A., van Poucke, K., Abad-Campos, P., Léon, M., Cacciola, S.O., Bakonyi, J. 2017: Six new Phytophthora species from ITS Clade 7a including two sexually functional heterothallic hybrid species detected in natural ecosystems in Taiwan. Persoonia 38: 100-135.
  • Jung, T., Scanu, B., Bakonyi, J., Seress, D., Kovács, G.M., Durán, A., Sanfuentes von Stowasser, E., Schena, L., Mosca, S., Thu, P.Q., Nguyen, C.M., Fajardo, S., González, M., Pérez-Sierra, A., Rees, H., Cravador, A., Maia, C., Horta Jung, M. 2017: Nothophytophthora nov., a new sister genus of Phytophthora from natural and semi–natural ecosystems. Persoonia 39: 143-174.
  • Jung, T., Horta Jung, M., Cacciola, S.O., Cech, T., Bakonyi, J., Seress, D., Mosca, S., Schena, L., Seddaiu, S., Pane, A., Magnano di San Lio, G., Maia, C., Cravador, C., Franceschini, A., Scanu, B. 2017: Multiple new cryptic pathogenic Phytophthora species from Fagaceae forests in Austria, Italy and Portugal. IMA Fungus 8 (2): 219-244.
  • Jung, T., Durán, A., Sanfuentes von Stowasser, E., Schena, L., Mosca, S., Fajardo, S., González, M., Navarro Ortega, A. D., Bakonyi, J., Seress, D., Tomšovský, M., Cravador, A., Maia, C., Horta Jung, M. 2018: Diversity of Phytophthora species in Valdivian rainforests and association with severe dieback symptoms. Forest Pathology 48: e12443.
  • Jung, T., Pérez–Sierra, A., Durán, A., Horta Jung, , Balci, Y., Scanu, B. 2018: Canker and decline diseases caused by soil- and airborne Phytophthora species in forests and woodlands. Persoonia 40: 182-220.
  • Jung, T., La Spada, F., Pane, A.; Aloi, F., Evoli, M., Horta Jung, M., Scanu, B., Faedda, R., Rizza, C., Puglisi, I., Magnano di San Lio, G., Schena, L., Cacciola, S.O. 2019: Diversity and Distribution of Phytophthora Species in Protected Natural Areas in Sicily. Forests 10: 259.
  • Botella, L., Janoušek, J., Maia, C., Horta Jung, M., Raco, M., Jung, T. 2020: Marine Oomycetes of the genus Halophytophthora harbor viruses related to Bunyaviruses. Frontiers in Microbiology 11:1467.
  • Jung, T., Scanu, B., Brasier, C.M., Webber, J., Milenković, I., Corcobado, T., Tomšovský, T., Pánek, M., Bakonyi, J., Maia, C., Bačová, A., Raco, M., Rees, H., Pérez-Sierra, A., Horta Jung, M. 2020: A survey in natural forest ecosystems of Vietnam reveals high diversity of both new and described Phytophthora taxa including ramorum. Forests, 11, 93.
  • Corcobado, T., Cech, T.L., Brandstetter, M., Daxer, A., Hüttler, C., Kudláček, T., Horta Jung, M., Jung, T. 2020: Decline of European beech in Austria: involvement of Phytophthora and contributing biotic and abiotic factors. Forests, 11, 895.
  • Jung, T., Horta Jung, M., Webber, J.F., Kageyama, K., Hieno, A., Masuya, H., Uematsu, S., Pérez-Sierra, A., Harris, A.R., Forster, J., Rees, H., Scanu, B., Patra, S., Kudláček, T., Janoušek, J., Corcobado, T., Milenković, I., Nagy, Z., Csorba, I., Bakonyi, J., Brasier, C.M. 2021: The destructive tree pathogen Phytophthora ramorum originates from the Laurosilva forests of East Asia. Journal of Fungi 7: 226.
  • Botella, L., Jung, T. 2021: Multiple viral infections detected in Phytophthora condilina by Total and Small RNA Sequencing. Viruses 13: 620.
  • O’Hanlon, R., Destefanis, M., Milenković, I., Tomšovský, M., Janoušek, J., Bellgard, S., Weir, B., Kudláček, T., Horta Jung, M., Jung, T. 2021: Two new Nothophytophthora species from streams in Ireland and Northern Ireland: Nothophytophthora irlandica and lirii sp. nov.. PLOS ONE 16(5): e0250527.
  • Van Poucke, K., Haegeman, A., Goedefroit, T., Focquet, F., Leus, L., Horta Jung, M., Nave, C., Redondo, M.A., Husson, C., Kostov, K., Lyubenova, A., Christova, P., Chandelier, A., Slavov, S., De Cock, A., Bonants, P., Werres, S., Oliva Palau, J., Marçais, B., Jung, T., Stenlid, J., Ruttink, T., Heungens, K. 2021: Unravelling hybridization in Phytophthora using phylogenomics and genome size estimation. IMA Fungus 12: 16.
  • Shakya, S.K., Grünwald, N.J., Fieland, V.J., Knaus, B.J., Weiland, J.E., Maia, C., Drenth, A., Guest, D.I., Liew, E.C., Crane, C., Chang, T.-T., Fu, C.-H., Minh Chi, N., Quang Thu, P., Scanu, B., Sanfuentes von Stowasser, E., Durán, Á., Horta Jung, M. and Jung, T. 2021: Phylogeography of the wide-host range panglobal plant pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi. Molecular Ecology, 30: 5164–5178.
  • Scanu, B., Jung, T., Masigol, H., Linaldeddu, B.T., Horta Jung, M., Brandano, A., Mostowfizadeh-Ghalamfarsa, R., Janoušek, J., Riolo, M., Cacciola S.O. 2021: Phytophthora heterospora nov., a new pseudoconidia-producing sister species of P. palmivora. Journal of Fungi 7: 870.
  • Corcobado, T., Milenković, I., Saiz-Fernández, I., Kudláček, T., Plichta, R., Májek, T., Bačová, A., Ďatková, H., Dálya, L.B., Trifković, M., Mureddu, D., Račko, V., Kardošová, M., Ďurkovič, J., Rattunde, R. Jung, T. 2022: Metabolomic and physiological changes in Fagus sylvatica seedlings infected with Phytophthora plurivora and the A1 and A2 mating types of ×cambivora. Journal of Fungi 8: 298.
  • Maia, C., Horta Jung, M., Carella, G., Milenković, I., Janoušek, J., Tomšovský, M., Mosca, S., Schena, L., Cravador, A., Moricca, S., Jung, T. 2022: Eight new Halophytophthora species from marine and brackish-water ecosystems in Portugal and an updated phylogeny for the genus. Persoonia 48: 54–90.

 

Relevant projects.

 

  • 1998–2001: R&D project PATHOAK, ‘FAIR CT97 3926’ ‘Long term dynamics of oak ecosystems: Assessment of the role of root pathogens and environmental constraints as interacting decline inducing factors’. Funded by the European Commission.
  • 2001-2004: R&D project F45 II ‘Development of a management concept for the Phytophthora disease of alders in Bavaria’. In this project TJ coordinated and realised Phytophthora surveys in more than 3200 forest stands and in riparian stands along 20000 kilometres of rivers. Funded by the Bavarian State Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry, Munich, Germany.
  • 2013-2014: Exploratory project QuerResist ‘Screening of Asian oak species for potential resistance to Phytophthora’ (EXPL/AGR-FOR/1304/2012). Funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).
  • 2014-2016: R&D project RESIPATH: Responses of European Forests and Society to Invasive Pathogens. Funded by FCT in the frame of the BiodivERsA programme.
  • 2015-2019: Horizon 2020 project POnTE ‘Pest Organisms Threatening Europe’. Funded by the European Commission.

  • 2022–2025: BiodivERsA project RESTORESEAS: Marine forests of animals, plants and algae: nature-based tools to protect and restore biodiversity. Coordinator of Task 1.5 ‘Diversity and role of pathogens in restoration’ and PI of the team of Mendel University in Brno. Funded by TACR.

 

Curriculum Vitae – Click here for full CV PDF version