George Newcombe Associate Professor of Forest Pathology/ Plant Symbiosis Telephone: (208) 885 5289 Office: Room 204B, CNR Email: georgen@uidaho.edu

Education & Experience:

• B.Sc. Plant Science, McGill University, 1983
• NSERC Ph.D. Scholar, University of Guelph, 1984-1988
• PhD Botany, University of Guelph, 1988
• Postdoctoral Research Associate, Agriculture Canada, Winnipeg Research Station, 1988-1991
• Researcher in the Hybrid Poplar Project of the University of Washington/WSU, 1991-1999
• Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Department of Forest Resources, University of
  Idaho, 1999-present
• Senior Editor of Plant Disease, 2003-2006
• Co-director of Center for Research on Invasive Species and Small Populations (CRISSP), 2006-2008

Research Interests:

• Genetics of resistance of woody plants to disease
• Fungal pathogens of Populus and Salix: their taxonomy, ecology, and distributions
• Endophyte mutualists of forest trees
• Hyperparasitism

• Endophytes and invasive knap weed (CRISSP). Alexey Shipunov, Postdoctoral Research Associate.
• Resistance to stem cankers of plantation poplars (Boise Cascade). Anil Raghavendra, PhD student.
• Endophytes and the Survival and Growth of Outplanted, Nursery Trees (UI Seed Grant and Nursery funds). Tyler Morrison, MS student.

Past Graduate Students:

• Renee Van Aelst-Bouma: MS from August 2000 to May 2002.
• Dr. Rebecca J. Ganley: PhD from August 2000 to May 2004. Currently employed by Forest Research, New Zealand.
• Dr. Claudia Nischwitz: PhD from August 2001 to May 2005. Currently employed by University of Georgia.
• Chandalin Bennett: MS from August 2003 to December 2005. Currently employed by University of Nevada.

Current University of Idaho Courses:

• Forest Diseases and Insects – Undergraduate course (co-taught with Dr. Steve Cook).
• Invasion Biology – a newly developed graduate course (co-taught with Dr. Cort Anderson, and other faculty associated with CRISSP, Center for Research on Invasive Species and Small Populations).
• Plant Pathology – Undergraduate course (co-taught with Dr. Wes Chun of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences).

Refereed Papers (1999-2005):

• Ganley R.J., and Newcombe G.  2005.  Fungal endophytes in seeds and needles of Pinus monticola.  Mycological Research 109: in press.
• Newcombe, G. 2005. Genes for parasite-specific, nonhost resistance in Populus. Phytopathology 95: 779-783.
• Nischwitz, C., Newcombe, G., and Anderson, C.L.  2005.  Host specialization of the hyperparasite Eudarluca caricis and its evolutionary relationship to Ampelomyces. Mycological Research 108: 421-428.
• Smith, J.A., Blanchette, R.A., and Newcombe, G.  2004.  Molecular and morphological characterization of the willow rust fungus, Melampsora epitea, from arctic and temperate hosts in North America. Mycologia 96: 1354-1362.
• Ganley R.J., Brunsfeld S.J., and Newcombe G.  2004. A community of unknown, endophytic fungi in western white pine. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101: 10107-10112.
• Newcombe, G.  2004.  Forest Pathology Rust Diseases. Chapter 5 in “Encyclopedia of Forest Sciences”.  Burley, J., Evans, J., and Youngquist, J., editors.  Elsevier Science.
• Martin, F., Tuskan, G.A., DiFazio, S.P., Lammers, P., Newcombe, G. and Podila, G.K.  2004.  Symbiotic sequencing for the Populus mesocosm. New Phytologist 161:330-335.
• Newcombe, G. and Nischwitz, C.  2004.  First report of powdery mildew (Erysiphe cichoracearum) on creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense) in North America. Plant Disease 88: 312.
• Newcombe, G. 2003. Puccinia tanaceti: specialist or generalist? Mycological Research 107: 797-802.
• Nischwitz, C. and Newcombe, G. 2003. First report of powdery mildew (Sawadaea bicornis) on Norway maple (Acer platanoides) in North America. Plant Disease 87: 451.
• Nischwitz, C. and Newcombe, G. 2003. First report of powdery mildew (Microsphaera palczewskii) on Siberian pea tree (Caragana arborescens) in North America. Plant Disease 87: 451.
• Newcombe, G. 2003. Native Venturia inopina sp. nov., specific to Populus trichocarpa and its hybrids. Mycological Research 107: 108-116.
• Woo, K.-S. and Newcombe, G. 2003. Absence of residual effects of a defeated resistance gene in poplar. Forest Pathology 33: 81-89.
• Newcombe, G., and Ostry, M. 2001. Recessive resistance to Septoria stem canker of hybrid poplar. Phytopathology 91:1081-1084.
• Newcombe, G., Stirling, B., and Bradshaw, H.D., Jr. 2001. Abundant pathogenic variation in the new hybrid rust population of Melampsora xcolumbiana on hybrid poplar. Phytopathology 91:981-985.
• Stirling, B. , Newcombe, G., Vrebalov, J., Bosdet, I., and H.D. Bradshaw, JR. 2001. Suppressed recombination around the MXC3 locus, a major gene for resistance to poplar leaf rust. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 103:1129-1137.
• Newcombe, G., Ostry, M., Hubbes, M., Mottet, M.-J., and Perinet, P. 2001. Poplar Diseases. In Poplar Culture in North America. Part A, Chapter 8. Edited by D.I. Dickmann, J.G. Isebrands, J.E. Eckenwalder, and J. Richardson. NRC Research Press, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6, Canada. pp. 249-276.
• James, R.R., and Newcombe, G. 2000. Defoliation patterns and genetics of insect resistance in cottonwoods. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 30:85-90.
• Newcombe, G. 2000. First report of Pestalotiopsis populi-nigrae on poplar in North America. Plant Disease 84(5):595.
• Newcombe, G. 2000. Inheritance of resistance to Glomerella cingulata in Populus. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 30:639-644.
• Newcombe, G., Stirling, B., McDonald, S.K., and Bradshaw, H.D., Jr. 2000. Melampsora x columbiana, a natural hybrid of M. medusae and M. occidentalis. Mycological Research 104: 261-274.
• Newcombe, G., and Thomas, P.L. 2000. Inheritance of carboxin resistance in a European field isolate of Ustilago nuda. Phytopathology 90:179-182.
• Fritz, R.S., Moulia, C., and Newcombe, G. 1999. Resistance of hybrid plants and animals to herbivores, pathogens, and parasites. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, Vol. 30: 565-591.

• Participation in teaching a short course at the University of Talca, Chile, from Dec. 6-10, 2004.

• Talks given by C. Bennett and C. Nischwitz at the 22nd meeting of the International Poplar Commission in Santiago, Chile, Nov. 28 to Dec. 2, 2004.