Beatrice Tolio

The goal of my PhD is to support the development of a highly resistant population of European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) to the invasive fungal pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus causing ash dieback that is currently devastating ash populations and threatening biodiversity across Europe. My PhD is led by Dr Mateusz Liziniewicz (Skogforsk). The project includes:

• Monitoring of long-term tolerance of European ash to Hymenoscyphus fraxineus in clonal seed orchards in Sweden.
• Performance of test populations of European ash in progeny trials in Sweden.
• Chemotyping European and Asian Fraxinus to determine underlying host defence mechanisms associated with resistance against ash dieback.
• Develop a protocol of hand-held FT-IR for real-time and rapid phenotyping of resistant trees (Cooperation with Prof. Pierluigi Bonello at Ohio State University).
• Performance of emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) on three European Fraxinus species (Cooperation with Dr. Donnie Peterson).

Dr. Mateusz Liziniewicz, Skogfrosk (ash dieback and breeding for resistance)

Dr. Diana Marciulyniene, LAMMC - Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry (ash dieback)

Associate Professor Benedetto Teodoro Linaldeddu, University of Padua (ash dieback and Diplodia spp.)

I have a master´s degree in Forest and Environmental Sciences with a focus on forest biotic and abiotic disturbances and a bachelor´s degree in Forest and Environmental Technologies from the University of Padua (Italy). I have been an exchange student at BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (Austria), at VDU - Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy, Kaunas (Lithuania), and at the Forest Pathology Lab at SLU Alnarp (Sweden) in which I mostly worked on endophytes from seeds and seedlings. 

Benigno, A., Bregant, C., Aglietti, C., Rossetto, G., Tolio, B., Moricca S., Linaldeddu, B.T. (2023). Pathogenic fungi and oomycetes causing dieback on Fraxinus species in the Mediterranean climate change hotspot region. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2023.1253022

Liziniewicz, M., Tolio, B., Cleary, M. (2022). Monitoring of long-term tolerance of European ash to Hymenoscyphus fraxineus in clonal seed orchards in Sweden. Forest Pathology, 00, e12773. https://doi.org/10.1111/efp.12773

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