Plants are the third biggest type of occurrence record in the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), with over 24 million occurrence records. And scientific collections have a big role to play in helping to tackle plant diseases.
We recently participated in the Australasian Plant Pathology Society conference: From Field to Future, Scientific Collections and Plant Pathology.
As part of this, we offered bursaries to support university students and early career researchers to attend the conference. We spoke with three of them to find out their perspectives on the future of plant disease science and the role of online platforms like the ALA.
ALA bursary recipients with ALA biosecurity lead Erin Roger at the Australasian Plant Pathology Society conference 2025. Pictured left to right: Vivian Rincon-Florez, Jonathan Haworth, Erin Roger, Haixa Guan and Alyssa Martino.
Haixia Guan, PhD candidate, The University of Sydney
Haixia is interested in the evolutionary ’arms race’ between plants and pathogens, and how genome-scale data can be used to better understand disease dynamics. In her PhD she explored the evolution and virulence variation of crown rust pathogens of Australia using comparative genomics and population-level variation analysis.
Did you already know about the Atlas of Living Australia?
I was aware of the ALA but hadn’t used it widely. Attending APPS 2025 gave me the opportunity to further understand the scope and potential of the ALA, especially in terms of integrating species distribution data with environmental and genomic data.
I realised that the ALA could be a valuable tool for planning field sampling strategies and for relating pathogen occurrence to environmental variables.
What did you most enjoy learning more about at the conference?
I enjoyed most the diversity of research topics and the opportunity to interact with researchers working in different areas of plant pathology – and understanding species diversity and evolution from a genomic perspective.
An unexpected but inspiring moment was learning how open data platforms and other bioinformatics resources are being used to maintain biological diversity and systematically monitor plant pathogens.
Where do you see yourself working/studying in plant pathology in the future? And what do you see as the role of online data platforms like the Atlas of Living Australia?
In the future, I hope to continue working in fungal pathogen genomics, ideally combining computational biology and field-based studies to address key questions about disease surveillance and management.
Online data platforms like the ALA play a crucial role in this context. They offer an incredible foundation for integrative analyses—linking species distribution, environmental data, and temporal changes. For researchers, platforms like ALA democratise access to biodiversity data and support more informed, large-scale plant epidemiology studies.
Arundhati Singh, PhD Candidate, Curtin University
Arundhati is interested in fungicide research. In her PhD, she’s specifically investigating the spatial and temporal dynamics of fungicide distribution within plants and how these influence disease control and the development of resistance.
Did you already know about the Atlas of Living Australia?
Yes, I’m familiar with the ALA. While I haven’t contributed occurrence records yet, I’ve used the platform to review species distributions and understand local biodiversity for understanding the background of my experiments.
As my current work focuses on fungicide distribution and its role in disease management, tools like the ALA offer an excellent opportunity to connect biological datasets with plant pathology research. I’m looking forward to exploring it further as my research expands into more field-based components.
What did you most enjoy learning more about at the conference?
I thoroughly enjoyed the sessions on integrated disease management and pathogen evolution. It was especially inspiring to see how molecular techniques are being integrated with field-based approaches to develop more sustainable plant disease control strategies.
Where do you see yourself working/studying in plant pathology in the future? And what do you see as the role of online data platforms like the Atlas of Living Australia?
I hope to continue in academia, focusing on research that bridges fundamental laboratory science with applied, field-based strategies to develop targeted and sustainable plant protection methods.
I see platforms like the ALA playing an increasingly vital role in this work; offering accessible, reliable biodiversity data that can inform disease risk assessments, support research planning, and enhance biosecurity efforts.
I also believe integrating such platforms into both research and teaching will be critical in training the next generation of plant pathologists.
Alyssa Martino, Scientific Officer Biodiversity Research, Research Centre for Ecosystem Resilience
Alyssa’s research focuses on forest pathology, in particular host resistance to the fungal pathogen Austropuccinia psidii which causes myrtle rust. This has involved investigating disease resistance genes in Australian native trees, which are highly diverse both within and between species. It’s sparked a broader interest in researching disease resistance gene evolution, and gene diversity across native plant populations.
Did you already know about the Atlas of Living Australia?
Yes, I am familiar with the platform and have used it both during my PhD and now during my postdoc. During my PhD, I established the Gum Tree Guardians project on iNaturalist as a citizen scientist initiative to increase awareness of myrtle rust in Australia.
I was fortunate to collaborate with Erin Roger and the ALA and Rebecca Paxton from the University of Adelaide on a broader myrtle rust campaign to boost the total myrtle rust observations in ALA.
I also use the ALA platform (especially the spatial portal) in my postdoc role. Based at the Sydney Botanic Gardens within the Research Centre for Ecosystem Resilience, I work on the population genetics of threatened plant species across NSW. The spatial portal has been a great tool for planning collections of these species across the state.
What did you most enjoy learning more about at the conference?
The conference was incredibly inspiring! Having recently started my first postdoc, based at the Sydney Botanic Gardens, the conference theme of collections sparked a lot of ideas for future research, especially seeing research using herbarium specimens to uncover the history, evolution, and diversity of plant pathogens.
I was amazed to see the preservation of fungal spores on herbarium specimens, making me think about what may be lurking in the Sydney Botanic Gardens collections.
Where do you see yourself working/studying in plant pathology in the future? And what do you see as the role of online data platforms like the Atlas of Living Australia?
Being born and raised in Western Australia, I see myself one day taking the learnings from my time in Sydney back to Perth or Albany. My goal is to bring high-quality plant pathology research down to the south-west biodiversity hotspot in Western Australia, with a focus on investigating disease resistance gene diversity in WA’s endemic plant species.
Platforms like the ALA will assist ahead of fieldwork for collections, and will also enable the collection of data on plants and pathogens during this type of research. It will be incredibly beneficial in a biodiversity hotspot which is threatened by plant pathogens like Phytophthora cinnamomi, which has already had a large impact in that region.
ALA Biosecurity Alerts and plant health
Our former biosecurity lead Dr Erin Roger delivered a conference keynote address on how open data research infrastructure can support data driven biosecurity initiatives.
“Our Biosecurity Alerts Service, based largely on citizen science data, can detect and report invasive species throughout Australia. It can support the plant pathology sector by monitoring the spread of plant pests and diseases, such as myrtle rust,” Erin said.
“We’ve also been improving data quality and taxonomic representation for the benefit of plant pathology. For example, we’ve greatly expanded ALA representation of biosecurity relevant species via our data mobilisation program.”