Research

• Dr Erin Roger (CSIRO) has published a paper on the first 12 months of the Atlas of Living Australia’s Biosecurity Hub, which gives us a glimpse of the benefits of collaboration between the biosecurity – biodiversity communities

• The Bacterial Plant Diseases Programme, which is coming to an end, have published the outcomes of the programme

• Two THCSN members, Coventry University and CEH, are partners in a new EU Horizon-funded project OneSTOP which will trial a “garden sentinel network” for private gardens for invasive plants and invertebrates

Policy

• Defra has launched a new service Check plant health information and import rules – for people to find out the rules, and the pest or disease risks for importing plants, plant products or seeds to Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) for commercial use

• Scottish Government has published the Scottish Plant Health Strategy 2024-2029 which includes a commitment to “ engage with stakeholders to develop initiatives for surveillance and reporting, for example Observatree, Tree Alert and possible networks of amateur gardeners”

Surveillance and intelligence

• Tremap and Heathrow are partnering to tackle an ambitious task – to map the location of every remaining black poplar in the UK

• EPPO have published their latest newsletter on surveillance, monitoring, and control of the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis)

• EPPO has issued an Alert for hornbeam decline (Cryphonectria carpinicola) which has recently been found for the first time in the UK, at five sites in south-east England where it is associated with dieback of mature hornbeam trees