Print Syllabus

Syllabus

P000166 Plant health under pressure: environmental shifts and legal responses, 3.0 Credits

Subjects

Education cycle

Postgraduate level

Grading scale

Language

English

Prior knowledge

Participants must be admitted as PhD or MSc students at SLU or another ELLS university. A basic understanding of biology is required, as well as an interest in one or more related fields such as (agro)ecology, entomology, plant breeding, molecular biology, nematology, mycology, plant protection, plant pathology, integrated plant protection (IPP/IPM), pest-plant interactions, or topics linked to climate change and biotic or abiotic stress.

Objectives

After completing the course, the student is expected to be able to:
• Enumerate at least three biological aspects of plant defense.
• Compare and contrast the natural system with the cultivated system, including systems for primary production with regards to plant defense and how agricultural practices shape the interactions between plants and pests/pathogens.
• Describe the ecology and biology of common pests and/or pathogens.
• Relate molecular mechanisms of host and pest/pathogen interactions to pest/pathogen management methods and strategies.
• Apply knowledge of pest/pathogen management methods and strategies to evaluate research result from case studies and the scientific literature.
• Select a plant-pathogen/pest system relevant to primary production and formulate a plant protection strategy based on the latest results and trends within plant protection as part of the project-based learning case scenarios, and use them to evaluate their own research in a broader perspective.
• Give an overview of recent and projected future trends in legislation in Europe that affect plant protection.
• Discuss possible future adaptations of existing plant protection strategies in response to emerging regulatory and environmental challenges and analyse the possible consequences of these adaptations.

Content

The aim of the course is to bring together PhD and MSc students from different backgrounds (biology, agronomy, horticulture, agroecology etc.) working on plant health-related areas and set them in relation to aspects of policy governing their field of study.

To account for the expected diversity of student backgrounds and to make sure that they are on a comparable scientific level in the management strategy discussions, the course will begin with lectures introducing the fundamental aspects of plant health. The lecturers will be asked to give a brief basic introduction to the subject area before moving on to recent research developments, with an emphasis on international perspectives and relevance for primary production systems. The materials for the literature seminar will also be selected to give examples of recent research from an international perspective, including applications within primary production.

The course will cover the following topics:

• Plant defense, resistance biology and breeding.
• Pests and pathogens.
• Ecology/population dynamics, life cycle etc. - some typical examples from each group.
• Crop loss assessment and presentation of different management methods,
e.g. biological and chemical control, resistance breeding, molecular tools, disease prediction, etc.
• Development of sustainable management strategies based on the different methods that are at hand - examples from different cropping systems - agriculture, horticulture and forestry.
• How the threats from pathogens and pests can be expected to be affected by climate change. How are different protection strategies affected by and can be adapted to climate change?
• How changes in pathogens and the environment (resistance development, climate change), in combination with changing regulations (restrictions on pesticide use, legislation on transgenic plants), will impact plant health and plant protection in the future.
• How current and future developments influence the research field of plant health. Applied examples will illustrate how changes in regulations have affected plant health strategies, and students will reflect on the potential positive or negative impacts on their own case studies.

Formats and requirements for examination

The marking scale will be pass/failed. The criteria for attaining the different grades will be:
1\. Attendance during course lectures
2\. Participation in group work and oral presentations assigned in the course.
3\. Submission of questions and topics of discussion for each literature seminar, based on the lectures and the assigned readings.
4\. Oral and written report of the project-based learning case study presenting a pest/pathogen management strategy for a cultivation system or global pest/pathogen problem and how changes in legislation can benefit or challenge this strategy.
Current information on assessment criteria shall be made available at the start of the course.

Additional information

This recurring course has been offered every other year for many years. It is primarily designed for early-stage doctoral students but is also open to MSc students. Over the years, it has been held in various locations: in Addis Ababa (2014), Alnarp (2016 and 2018), and remotely from Alnarp in 2020, when the planned on-site course at the Universitå degli Studi della Tuscia field station in Pieve Tesino, Trentino, Italy, had to be moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the course returned to an in-person format in Alnarp, and in 2024 it was finally held on site in Pieve Tesino as originally intended. For 2026, we are planning to return to Alnarp. The course is also supported by ELLS funds for incentives.

2026: An excursion is planned to southern Sweden. More information will be provided at the start of the course.

Responsible department

Department of Plant Protection Biology