48th New Phytologist Symposium programme

Pre-symposium - Monday 12 October

Registration will be open on the evening of 12 October, times to be confirmed. Poster presenters will be able to start putting up their posters. Please note that no dinner is planned on Monday 12 October, delegates arriving on Monday should make their own dinner arrangements.

Day 1	Tuesday 13 October
From 11 am	Registration Poster presenters should put up their posters during this time.
From 12 noon	Lunch
13:00 – 13:15	Welcome from the organising committee
Session 1: Tree- Tree interactions
13:15	1.1: Title TBC 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	Flash talks
17:30	Break
18:00 – 19:00	Poster session with drinks Odd numbered posters to present
19:30	Dinner at Swiss Alpine Centre for all delegates

This programme is subject to change, last updated 3 August 2026

08:55	Morning announcements
Session 2: Tree health and disease
09:00	2.1 Title TBC 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, UK
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 How are the oak ectomycorrhiza and associated bacteria affected by drought and its legacy? Mika Tarkka Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Germany
12:30	3.3 Host identity and climate structure global conifer foliar endophyte communities: Do drier conditions favor pathogens? Lorinda Bullington, MPG Ranch, 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, Prague
14:30	3.5 Unlocking the soil organic phosphorus pool via root-fungal symbioses David Johnson, Lancaster University, United Kingdom.
14:45	*3.6 Oxidative decomposition by the ectomycorrhizal fungus Cortinarius ominosus* is linked to uptake of organic nutrients** Erica Packard, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
15:00	3.7: Five insights from studies of seed-infecting fungi in tropical forests James Dalling, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
15:15	3.8 Tree-microbe interactions under environmental stress: not all fungal partners help equally Rodica Pena, University of Reading, UK
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 Integrated evolution of three mutualisms shapes global patterns of tree diversity and forest ecosystems Akira Yamawo, Kyoto University, Japan
17:00	3.11 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
17:15	3.12 The hidden termite–fungal interactions driving deadwood decay in the tropics Baptiste Wijas
17:30	3.13 The rhizosphere zoo: deciphering interactions at the tree root-microbiota interface Aurélie Deveau, INRAE, France
18:00 – 19:00	Poster session Even numbered posters
19:30	Dinner at Swiss Alpine Centre

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, 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, UK
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, UK
18:00	Break
19:30	Symposium dinner La Fromagerie

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, UK
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 pack lunch

Programme

Session 1: Tree- Tree interactions

Session 1 continued: Tree- Tree interactions

Session 2: Tree health and disease

Session 2 continued: Tree health and disease

Session 3: Tree – microbe interactions

Session 3 Continued: Tree – microbe interactions

Session 3 Continued: Tree – microbe interactions

Session 4: Forest – climate interactions

Session 4 continued: Forest – climate interactions

Session 5: Forest – human interactions

Session 5 continued: Forest – human interactions

Session 6: Future forests

Session 6 continued: Future forests

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Session 1: Tree- Tree interactions

Session 1 continued: Tree- Tree interactions

Session 2: Tree health and disease

Session 2 continued: Tree health and disease

Session 3: Tree – microbe interactions

Session 3 Continued: Tree – microbe interactions

Session 3 Continued: Tree – microbe interactions

Session 4: Forest – climate interactions

Session 4 continued: Forest – climate interactions

Session 5: Forest – human interactions

Session 5 continued: Forest – human interactions

Session 6: Future forests

Session 6 continued: Future forests