Phytopathology of Sustainable Agricultural Systems

Our aim is to increase the efficiency of agricultural systems in Mediterranean environments by using integrated management strategies of soil-borne pathogens to avoid the environmental damages and economic losses that they cause. This aim is reached by developing environmentally-friendly management strategies that assure both the efficiency of the agricultural systems and the yields, quality and health of their products. Research activities are undertaken with a multidisciplinary approach that includes etiology, plant-organism-interactions, taxonomy, genetic diversity and population structure, biogeography of pathogenic and beneficial microorganisms, and response of host genotypes to them. This is achieved by using classical and molecular tools, morphogenesis and structure of plants, qualitative and quantitative histology, quantitative epidemiology, modeling impacts of climate change on pathogens and beneficial microorganisms, microbial ecology, metagenomics, and biological control.