48th New Phytologist Symposium programme

Monday 12 October
From 16:00	Check in at the Swiss Alpine Centre for residents If you will be arriving after 9pm – please check your email for the after-hours arrival instructions
16:00 – 19:00	The bar at the Swiss Alpine Centre will be open
Day 1	Tuesday 13 October
07:30 – 10:00	Breakfast available for Swiss Alpine Centre residents
From 11 am	Registration Poster presenters should put up their Posters during this time. Check in for any Swiss Alpine Centre residents
From 12 noon	Lunch
13:00 – 13:15	Welcome from the organising committee
Session 1: Tree–Tree interactions
13:15	1.1: Niche complementarity among tropical tree species Helene Muller-Landau, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama
13:45	1.2: Root structural strategies better predict variation in conspecific density dependence than above-ground traits Nohemi Huanca-Nunez, Yale University, USA
14:00	1.3: Insights from two decades of a tree diversity experiment in SE Asia Eleanor Jackson, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
14:15	1.4: Forest biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and restoration Xiaojuan Liu, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
14:45	Refreshment break with Posters
Session 1 continued: Tree–Tree interactions
15:30	1.5: Can tree–tree interactions delay forest mortality during climate extremes? Mechanisms linking species interactions, water use, and hydraulic risk Charlotte Grossiord, EPFL - Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne and Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Switzerland
16:00	1.6: Trait plasticity predicts the sign of higher-order interactions Zhengliang Huang, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
16:15	1.7: Quantifying competitive interactions in forest succession: the shifting roles of light interception and use efficiencies Yusuke Onoda, Kyoto University, Japan
16:30	1.8: From molecular responses to ecosystem fluxes: how climate extremes reshape tree interactions Christiane Werner, University of Freiburg, Germany
17:00	Break
18:00 – 19:00	Poster session with drinks reception Odd numbered Posters to present
19:30	Dinner at Swiss Alpine Centre for all delegates

This programme is subject to change, last updated 9 September 2026

Day 2	Wednesday 14 October
07:30 -08:50	Breakfast available for Swiss Alpine Centre residents
08:55	Morning announcements
Session 2: Tree health and disease
09:00	2.1: From forest patterns to interactions and their consequences: empirical challenges and ways forward Lisa Hülsmann, University of Bayreuth, BayCEER, Germany
09:30	2.2: Not just lucky: Investigating lodgepole pine survivors of the mountain pine beetle epidemic for resistance traits Janice Cooke, University of Alberta, Canada
09:45	2.3: Incorporating tree-pathogen interactions in a forest ecosystem model to determine European ash tolerance to ash dieback disease Carmen Watkins, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
10:00	2.4: Characterising and engineering the oak microbiome to suppress disease James McDonald, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
10:30	Refreshment break
Session 2 continued: Tree health and disease
11:00	2.5: Forest tree immunity and defense responses: from chemical ecology to phytopathobiomes Chhana Ullah, University of Göttingen, Germany
11:30	2.6: Extensive tree mortality across forested wetlands in the coastal US Chi Hang Yeung University of Virginia, USA
Session 3: Tree–microbe interactions
11:45	3.1: Soil invertebrates facilitate plant nitrogen assimilation in a tropical seasonal secondary forest Louise Ashton, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
12:15	3.2: The hidden termite–fungal interactions driving deadwood decay in the tropics Baptiste Wijas, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, USA, University of New South Wales, Australia
12:30	3.3: Five insights from studies of seed-infecting fungi in tropical forests James Dalling, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
12:45	Lunch and Posters

Session 3 Continued: Tree–microbe interactions
14:00	3.4: Tree roots steer the root microbiome: across seasons, after intervention and even after death Petr Baldrian, Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czechia
14:30	3.5: Host identity and climate structure global conifer foliar endophyte communities: do drier conditions favor pathogens? Lorinda Bullington, MPG Ranch, USA
14:45	3.6: How are the oak ectomycorrhiza and associated bacteria affected by drought and its legacy? Mika Tarkka Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research–UFZ, Germany
15:00	3.7: Integrated evolution of three mutualisms shapes global patterns of tree diversity and forest ecosystems Akira Yamawo, Kyoto University, Japan
15:15	3.8: Tree–microbe interactions under environmental stress: not all fungal partners help equally Rodica Pena, University of Reading, United Kingdom and Transilvania University of Brașov, Romania
15:45	Refreshment break
Session 3 Continued: Tree–microbe interactions
16:15	3.9: Robust poplar growth and salinity tolerance shaped by the heterosis associated with a diploid soil fungus Zhilin Yuan, Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, China
16:45	3.10: Unlocking the soil organic phosphorus pool via root–fungal symbioses David Johnson, Lancaster University, United Kingdom
17:00	*3.11: Oxidative decomposition by the ectomycorrhizal fungus Cortinarius ominosus* is linked to uptake of organic nutrients** Erica Packard, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
17:15	3.12: When fungal friends turn foes: ectomycorrhizal networks spread carbon limitation and impair plant water relations in the field Gerard Sapes, University of Montana, USA and CREAF, Spain
17:30	3.13: ~~The rhizosphere zoo: deciphering interactions at the tree root–microbiota interface~~ ~~Aurélie Deveau, INRAE, France~~ Due to illness Aurelie will be unable to attend, Mark Anthony, from the University of Vienna, Austria will now speak, and their talk title will be confirmed shortly.
18:00 – 19:00	Poster session with drinks reception Even numbered Posters to present
19:30	Dinner at Swiss Alpine Centre

Day 3	Thursday 15 October
07:30 -08:50	Breakfast available for Swiss Alpine Centre residents
08:55	Morning announcements
Session 4: Forest–climate interactions
09:00	4.1: From range core to edge: variability in tree demographic responses to climate and disturbance Miranda Redmond, University of California Berkeley, USA
09:30	4.2: Drought mortality increases wind stress in an Eastern Amazon Forest Toby Jackson, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
09:45	4.3: Climate mediates liana-driven reductions in tree height across the pantropics Sruthi Moorthy Krishna Moorthy Parvathi, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
10:00	4.4: Hidden extinction debt in a tropical forest revealed by 40 years of dark diversity dynamics Jing Yang, Misión Biológica de Galicia, Spanish National Research Council (MBG-CSIC), Spain and University of Tartu, Estonia
10:15	4.5: Is the deciduous treeline of South America under carbon surplus? Frida Piper, Universidad de Talca, Chile
10:45	Refreshment break
Session 4 continued: Forest–climate interactions
11:15	4.6: Climate warming disrupts reproduction in European beech Michał Bogdziewicz Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland
11:45	4.7: Climate-driven phenological mismatch between spring ephemerals and the forest canopy: Emerging patterns in tree–herb interactions Clayton Hale, University of Georgia, USA
12:00	4.8: Favorable spring growth increases summer drought stress in temperate tree saplings Pascal Schneider, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) and ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), Switzerland
12:15	4.9: Warming-driven disruption of masting and fecundity across Europe’s forests Jessie Foest, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland
12:30	4.10: From alpine treeline to tropical forest: tree recruitment processes affect future forest distributions and structure Lara Kueppers, University of California, Berkeley, USA
13:00	Lunch and Posters

Session 5: Forest–human interactions
14:00	5.1: How processes of the past shape modern tropical forests Crystal McMichael, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
14:30	5.2: Biotic legacies in afforestation Sofia Gomes, Leiden University, the Netherlands
14:45	5.3: Edge effects on forest 3D structure vary consistently with age, climate and land use Rebecca Banbury Morgan, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
15:00	5.4: Forest range shifts emerge from interactions among climate, demography, and management Arun Bose, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Switzerland
15:15	5.5: Compounding droughts, wildfires, and fragmentation in Amazonia: testing the limits of forest resilience Paulo Brando, Yale University, USA
15:45	Refreshment break
Session 5 continued: Forest–human interactions
16:15	5.6: Navigating conservation–production trade-offs across scales Gianluca Cerullo, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
16:45	5.7: Long-term human legacies on functional diversity and tree communities in Bornean tropical forests Nathalia Pérez Cárdenas, University of Zurich, Switzerland
17:00	5.8: Vegetation recovery following disturbance removal revealed forest-grassland alternative stable states in a tropical dry forest of central India Ajay Singh, Wildlife Institute of India, India
17:15	5.9: Saproxylic fungal–beetle multitrophic interactions in deadwood-enriched boreal forests Maria Faticov, Stockholm University, Sweden
17:30	5.10: The structure, function and dynamics of human-modified tropical forests Tommaso Jucker, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
18:00	Break
19:00 (approx.)	For any delegates that do not want to walk to the restaurant a shuttle bus will depart from the Swiss Alpine Centre
19:30	Symposium dinner La Fromagerie Address: Restaurant la Fromagerie, Village Street 4, 1854 Leysin
21:30 (approx.)	Shuttle bus to depart from la Fromagerie, returning to the Swiss Alpine Centre and Hotel le Grand Chalet
22:15 (approx.)	Shuttle bus to depart from la Fromagerie, returning to the Swiss Alpine Centre and Hotel le Grand Chalet

Day 4	Friday 16 October
07:30 -08:50	Breakfast available for Swiss Alpine Centre residents
08:55	Morning announcements
Session 6: Future forests
09:00	6.1: Prior low-severity fires reduce the risk of persistent forest loss from subsequent wildfires Kai Zhu, University of Michigan, USA
09:30	6.2: Regeneration as a demographic filter driving forest reorganization and range shifts under climate change Josep M Serra-Diaz, Botanical Institute of Barcelona (CSIC-CMCNB), Spain
09:45	6.3: Forest interactions in a novel biosphere: climate change, biotic globalization and revived ecological processes Jens-Christian Svenning, Aarhus University, Denmark
10:15	Refreshment break Poster votes due at end of break
Session 6 continued: Future forests
10:45	6.4: Trade-offs between growth and reproduction are common but changing in woody plants Maciej Barczyk, Forest Biology Center, Poland
11:00	6.5: Shaping Future Forests: how can ecophysiology support climate-smart forest management? Arthur Gessler, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) and ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), Switzerland
11:15	6.6: Captured sunshine: an energetic view of forest interactions Yadvinder Malhi, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
11:45 – 12:15	Closing and prizes
12:15 – 14:30	Lunch
12:30	1^st bus to depart for field trip – attendees to bring a packed lunch
	Swiss Alpine Center residents checking out on Friday are welcome to depart at any time during the day. Please ensure you leave your key at reception.
Afternoon	Optional field trip to Pfynwald Research Platform (VPDrought Experiment) Limited places are still available contact np-events@lancaster.ac.uk to book a place.
	Saturday 17 October
07:30 -10:00	Breakfast available for Swiss Alpine Centre residents
12 noon	All Swiss Alpine residents to have checked out. Please ensure you leave your key at reception. Please note access to the Swiss Alpine Centre on Saturday will be by code only for residents.

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