Matteo Garbelotto

Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California Berkeley

Education:

University of Padua, Italy, Magna cum laude BS & MS in Forestry, 1990
University of California, Berkeley, MS in Plant Pathology, 1993
University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D. in Plant Pathology, 1996
Employment and Affiliations:
European Food Safety Authority
Appointed technical advisor, 2010-2011
University of California, Berkeley
Associate Cooperative Extension Specialist and Associate Adjunct Professor, 2005-2011
University of California, Berkeley
Assistant Cooperative Extension Specialist and Assistant Adjunct Professor, 2000-2005
University of California, Berkeley and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Post-Doctoral Research Associate, 1997-2000
Recent Honors and Awards:
2004 Unsung Hero Award from San Francisco Tomorrow
2004 Proclamation by California State Assembly
2004 Proclamation by City and County of San Francisco
2009 Research Award by The Western Society of Arboriculture
Professional Memberships:

American Phytopathological Society

Mycological Society of America

International Union of Forestry Research Organization

California Oak Mortality Task Force

Professional Service

·  Phytopathologia Mediterranea, Section Editor

·  Journal of Plant Pathology, Associate Editor

·  IUFRO, Chairperson of Working Party 7.02.01

·  California Oak Mortality Task Force, Scientific Advisor

Research
EXOTIC FOREST DISEASES: we are interested in uncovering the mechanisms behind invasions by exotic forest pathogens, and we use molecular tools to understand their biology, ecology, and epidemiology.
FUNGAL ECOLOGY: we are using beneficial and pathogenic fungi as model systems to understand issues of isolation by distance, island biogeography and community structure in relations to habitat size and age.
BIODIVERSITY and ALL TAXA INVENTORIES: we are interested in describing biodiversity and conservation of natural resources
MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTICS, GENOMICS: our lab is at the forefront of testing the efficacy, sensitivity and reliability of new diagnostic tools for the detection and study of forest diseases. We are also involved in the genomic unraveling of two fungi: Phytophthora ramorum and Heterobasidion irregulare (H. annosum).
MANAGEMENT OF FOREST DISEASES: we are studying the efficacy and longevity of direct chemical controls on forest diseases, with an emphasis on phosphonates because of their absence of environmental side effects. We are also interested in learning how horticultural (e.g. pruning, composting) and silvicultural (e.g. thinning) approaches may affect the epidemiology and impact of forest diseases.
Publications
Gonthier P, and Garbelotto M. 2011 Amplified fragment length polymorphism and sequence analyses reveal massive gene introgression from the European fungal pathogen Heterobasidion annosum into its introduced congener H. irregulare. Molecular Ecology 20 (13), : 2756–2770.
Mascheretti, S., Croucher, P., Vettraino, A., Prospero, S., & Garbelotto, M. (2008) Reconstruction of the sudden oak death epidemic in California through microsatellite analysis of the pathogen Phytophthora ramorum. Molecular Ecology, 17(11), 2755-2768.
Gonthier, P., Nicolotti, G., Linzer, R., Guglielmo, F., & Garbelotto, M. (2007) Invasion of European pine stands by a North American forest pathogen and its hybridization with a native infertile taxon. Molecular Ecology, 16, 1389-1400
Peay, K. Bruns, T., Kennedy, P., Bergemann, S. & Garbelotto, M. (2007) A strong species-area relationship for eukaryotic soil microbes: island size matters for ectomycorrhizal fungi. Ecology Letters, 10, 470-480
Dodd, R.S., Hüberli, D., Douhovnikoff, V., Harnik, T.Y., Afzal-Rafii, Z. & Garbelotto, M. (2004) Is variation in susceptibility to Phytophthora ramorum correlated with population genetic structure in coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia)? New Phytologist 165, 203-214.
Rizzo, D.M., M. Garbelotto, J.M. Davidson, G.W. Slaughter & S.T. Koike. 2002. Phytophthora ramorum as the cause of extensive mortality of Quercus spp. and Lithocarpus densiflorus in California. Plant Disease 86: 205-214.