"ICGTD - Achievements and Challenges of the Future"
by Luigi Chiarappa
Since the late 1980s trunk disease problems have emerged that are of paramount
importance to the grape industry. They include the resurgence of esca
(black measles) and eutypa dieback in mature vineyards, dieback by Botryosphaeria
species and decline diseases of young vines in newly planted vineyards.
These diseases were attracting attention from scientists all over the
world, but the research was often conducted in isolation and there was
little exchange of the rather fragmentary information. The realization that both esca in mature vines and decline in young vines were associated with the same fungus, and the naming of that fungus as Phaeoacremonium chlamydosporum (later renamed Phaeomoniella chlamydospora) focussed the attention of researchers on possible inter-relationships of these diseases. The need for closer coordination between scientists working on these diseases was realized, and the idea of an International Council on Grapevine Trunk Diseases (ICGTD) was conceived. |
The first ICGTD meeting took place in California (USA) in July 1998, and agreed on a structure and objectives for the ICGTD. The ICGTD serves as a forum for researchers from grape growing countries. The ICGTD executive consists of a chairperson and four regional coordinators. The first chairperson of ICGTD was Dr. Luigi Chiarappa, who first proposed the formation of the ICGTD. The other founding members were Ian Pascoe, Lucie Morton, Laura Mugnai, Lisa van de Water, and Philippe Larignon.
The International Council of Grapevine Trunk Diseases has been welcomed as the Subject Matter Committee on Grapevine Trunk Diseases by the International Society for Plant Pathology (see ISPP Newsletter 31 (4) August 2001).
The ICGTD is a non-profit organisation. It has no sponsors, no membership fees. All its activities are carried out on a volunteer basis and has the strong support of ISPP and of MPU (Mediterranean Phytopathological Society, editor of Phytopathologia Mediterranea).
Committee
CHAIRPERSON:
Florence Fontaine (florence.fontaine@univ-reims.fr)
REGIONAL COORDINATORS:
Europe - Stefano Di Marco (s.dimarco@ibimet.cnr.it)
Africa - Francois Halleen (halleenf@arc.agric.za)
North America - José Ramon Úrbez Torres (joseramon.urbeztorres@agr.gc.ca)
South America - Jaime Auger (jauger92@gmail.com)
Australasia - Mark Sosnowski (mark.sosnowski@sa.gov.au)
Asia - Jiye Yan (jiyeyan@gmail.com)
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Josep Armengol (Spain) Jaime Auger (Chile) Akila Berraf (Algeria) Gonzalo Diaz (Chile) Stefano Di Marco (Italy) Marcela Esterio (Chile) David Ezra (Israel) Florence Fontaine (France) David Gramaje (Spain) Francois Halleen (South Africa) Eirian Jones (New Zealand) Erzebeth Karaffa (Hungary) Philippe Larignon (France) Pascal Lecomte (France) | Jordi Luque (Spain) Lucie Morton (USA) Lizel Mostert (South Africa) Laura Mugnai (Italy) Cecilia Rego (Portugal) Patrice Rey (France) Philippe Rolshausen (USA) Mark Sosnowski (Australia) Florent Trouillas (USA) José Ramon Úrbez Torres (Canada) Lisa van de Water (USA) Helen Waite (Australia) Jiye Yan (China) |
WEBSITE MANAGERS:
Mark Sosnowski
Akif Eskalen
Structure and Objectives
1.0 Aims
2.0 Executive Council composition
2.1 Founding members
Luigi Chiarappa, Philippe Larignon, Lucie Morton, Laura Mugnai, Ian Pascoe, Lisa van de Water.
2.2 Board: Chairperson and Regional coordinators
They
are nominated or confirmed at each meeting of the executive council to
be held in the occasion of each workshop organized by the ICGTD, with
the task of keeping close contact with the other ICGTD members.
2.3 Previous workshop organizers
The local organizer or one representative member of the organizing committee is invited to belong to the Executive Committee.
2.4 Honorary members
To be proposed by one of the Council members and approved by the council.
3.0 ICGTD membership
4.0 Tasks and delimitation of activities
5.0 ICGTD Website
The Council, with the help of all members, runs an ICGTD website. It includes the following:
List of updated literature produced on each of the main research fields (see form)
Links with descriptive pages on the main diseases of interest for the group
List of main ongoing or recently finished projects (optional)
Suggested links with other web sites of interest for ICGTD members
Minutes of Council Meetings
Stellenbosch, January 2005 (PDF)
Davis, September 2006 (PDF)
Florence, September 2008
- Adelaide, November 2014 (PDF)
- Reims, July 2017 (PDF)
The ICGTD is also recognized by the International Society for Plant Pathology as an ISPP Subject Matter Committees (SMCs), which are specialist committees established (or endorsed) by the International Society for Plant Pathology to address and report on special fields or problems in plant pathology (ISPP Statute 5 (b)).
ISPP Subject Matter Committee: Grapevine Trunk Diseases
Chair: Laura Mugnai (laura.mugnai@unifi.it)