Enrico Bonello, professor of molecular and chemical ecology of trees in The Ohio State University's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) , Department of Plant Pathology is the senior author of a recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change titled Mechanisms of Pine Disease Susceptibility Under Experimental Climate Change.

The study, which was conducted on Austrian pines, native to southern Europe and used ornamentally in the United States, examined metabolic gene expression in both host trees and the pathogens attacking them under normal and climate-change conditions. This research suggests global warming weakens the pine trees' resistance to fungi while fungi enhance their carbon acquisition from the trees.

 Read more about the article titled As globe warms, infected pines starve and disease-causing fungi thrive published on the Ohio State News site.