Free boxwood webinar: calamities of Georgia’s boxwood forests

Iryna Matsiakh will be rounding out the Boxwood Blight Insight Group (BBIG) seminar series with a talk on the unique boxwood forests (Buxus colchica) in the Caucasus: their habitat, ecology and biodiversity.

Boxwood trees growing in the Caucasus Mountains are threatened by habitat loss and defoliation by an introduced disease, boxwood blight and an introduced insect, the box tree moth Cydalima perspectalis. Matsiakh’s story will include invasive species introductions, actions taken by forestry authorities against box tree moth, research studies and the current situation in boxwood forests.

Click here to register for the free webinar on Dec. 20 at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Matsiakh is a doctor of Forestry at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre and in the Forestry Department of the Ukrainian National Forestry University. Matsiakh's research range is related to forest pathology (tree diseases), partly forest entomology and forest protection (prevention and control of tree diseases). Her research activities are mostly concentrated on epidemiology, biological and ecological features of tree pathogens, their interactions with tree-hosts. She is curious about studying invasive pests and diseases in the forests and green areas, earn new diagnostic tools for the detection and investigation of forest tree diseases (molecular techniques) with practical activities in the field (using biological control treatment) in order to ensure the sustainable development of forests for future generations.