7. References, links & furthur information for management

• Commonwealth: National Threat Abatement Plan (TAP) 2001
• Commonwealth: Draft of new National Threat Abatement Plan (TAP) 2007
• Commonwealth: Background Document for the Threat Abatement Plan disease in natural ecosystems caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi 2007
• Commonwealth: Management of Phytophthora cinnamomi for Biodiversity Conservation in Australia 2006
• Commonwealth: Phytophthora root rot Invasive species fact sheet 2004
• Commonwealth: Phytophthora cinnamomi disease - links to some publications, including Key Threatening Process
• Australasian Plant Conservation, (2005) Special Issue on Pathogens and Plant Conservation: Volume 13 Number 4. Most of the articles in this volume are on Phytophthora in Australia.
• International Union of Forest Research Organisations, Unit 7.02.09 - Phytophthora in forests and natural ecosystems

Commonwealth: National Threat Abatement Plan 2001

Commonwealth: Draft new NTAP 2007

Commonwealth: Background Document for the Threat abatement plan disease in natural ecosystems caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi 2007

This background document complements the statutory Threat Abatement Plan (TAP). The TAP outlines the actions proposed to abate the threat and addresses the statutory requirements of the document. This background document provides supporting information on matters such as the biology of the pathogen, its population dynamics, spread, diagnosis and impacts on biodiversity and management measures.

Commonwealth: Management of Phytophthora cinnamomi for Biodiversity Conservation in Australia 2006
O’Gara E, Howard K, Wilson B, Hardy GEStJ (2005) Management of Phytophthora cinnamomi for Biodiversity Conservation in Australia: Part 2 - National Best Practice Guidelines. A report funded by the Commonwealth Government Department of the Environment and Heritage by the Centre for Phytophthora Science and Management, Murdoch University, Western Australia. A model of best practice was developed which encompasses all the components necessary for an informed and integrated approach to P. cinnamomi management, from strategic through to on-ground management. This document has two major components

• to review current management approaches and identify benchmarks for best practice
• the development of risk assessment criteria and a system for prioritising management of assets that are or could be threatened by P. cinnamomi.

The document is divided into 4 parts, and includes a number of appendices. Parts 1 & 2 deal with the first component identified above and Parts 3 & 4 with the second component.

• Part 1 - A Review of Current Management (PDF file 2.7 MB), thoroughly reviews the approaches to P. cinnamomi management in Australia within the context of the best practice model.
• Part 2 - National Best Practice Guidelines (PDF file 1.35 MB). The model for best practice management of P. cinnamomi for biodiversity conservation, developed in Part 1 is repeated in this document and the best current practices and processes identified in the review are presented in the context of the model. These are the first national best practice management guidelines developed in Australia for management of P. cinnamomi in natural ecosystems, and consequently recommendations on their use are provided. The management guidelines are divided into two sections

i) addressing best practice at the strategic/tactical level of management

ii) addressing the operational and on-ground management of P. cinnamomi

Critical success factors for management and discussions on the development of appropriate performance indicators are provided.

• Part 2 - Appendix 1 Phytophthora cinnamomi (PDF file 690 KB. Provides background information on the biology and epidemiology of P. cinnamomi.
• Part 2 - Appendix 2 Rational of Current Management Options (PDF file 1.7 MB). Provides details of options to employ to minimise spread of Phytophthora cinnamomi, including signage, controlling water, developing cleaning stations for machinery, vehicles and feet!
• Part 2 - Appendix 3 Areas Vulnerable to Disease Caused by P. cinnamomi (PDF file 1.1 MB). This shows the area in Australia that fits the climatic envelope of P. cinnamomi. The map showing occurrence in Australia is now quite outdated and of course any map will only show you occurrences where sampling has been conducted. 
• Part 2 - Appendix 4 The Responses of Native Australian Plant Species to P. cinnamomi (PDF file 8.6 MB). This list was compiled by Dr Keith McDougall, DECCW and was last updated in September 2005 but nevertheless is a great starting point. As yet few NSW species have been tested for susceptibility to P. cinnamomi. 
• Part 3 - Risk Assessment for Threats to Ecosystems, Species and Communities: A Review (PDF file 1.9 MB).
• Part 4 - Risk Assessment Models for Species, Ecological Communities and Areas (PDF file 502 KB). This document describes the attached models for assessing the risk of P. cinnamomi to biodiversity in Australia. These models were developed after a review of previous and current studies, unpublished information and expert opinion (Part 3). Please refer to the recommendations presented in the beginning of the document before using the models.  

Commonwealth: Phytophthora root rot Invasive species fact sheet 2004

Commonwealth: Phytophthora cinnamomi disease - links to some publications, including Key Threatening Process

Australasian Plant Conservation, Special Issue on Pathogens and Plant Conservation: Volume 13 Number 4 March - May 2005

Australian Plant Conservation: Volume 13 Number 4, 2005. Most of the articles in this volume are on Phytophthora in Australia. 

International Union of Forest Research Organisations, Unit 7.02.09 - Phytophthora in forests and natural ecosystems

Howard CG, 2008. A contemporary study of the genetic variation of Phytophthora cinnamomi recovered from natural ecosystems of New South Wales. PhD Thesis, University of Sydney.

McDougall KL & Summerell BA, 2003.  The impact of Phytophthora cinnamomi on the flora and vegetation of New South Wales - a re-appraisal. In Phytophthora in Forests and Natural Ecosystems. 2nd International IUFRO Working Party 7.02.09 Meeting, Albany, Western Australia, October 2001. Eds. JA McComb, GE St J Hardy and IC Tommerup; pages 49-56. (Murdoch University Print: Murdoch, Western Australia).

McDougall KL, Summerell BA, Coburn D and Newton M, 2003. Phytophthora cinnamomi causing disease in subalpine vegetation in New South Wales. Australasian Plant Pathology 32: 113-115.

Summerell B, Pongpisutta R & Howard C, 2005.  The biology of Phytophthora cinnamomi, Australasian Plant Conservation 13(4). More. 

Walsh J, Keith D, McDougall K, Summerell B & Whelan R, 2006.  Phytophthora Root Rot: assessing he potential treat to Australia’s oldest national park, Ecological Management & Restoration 7(1): 55-60. More.

Walsh J, McDougall KL, Whelan R and Summerell BA, 2003. The distribution and impact of Phytophthora cinnamomi in Royal National Park, New South Wales. In Phytophthora in Forests and Natural Ecosystems. 2nd International IUFRO Working Party 7.02.09 Meeting, Albany, Western Australia, October 2001. Eds. JA McComb, GEStJ Hardy and IC Tommerup; pages 280-281. (Murdoch University Print: Murdoch, Western Australia).

Documents from the Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority Area project

• Suddaby T & Liew E, 2008.  Best Practice Management Guidelines for Phytophthora cinnamomi in the Sydney Metropolitan CMA (PDF file 1 MB)
• Suddaby T, 2008. Survey locations of Phytophthora cinnamomi within the Sydney Metropolitan CMA (PDF file 1.2 MB)
• Suddaby T, 2008. Survey of the distribution of Phytophthora cinnamomi in bushland of the Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority (PDF file 620 KB)
• Suddaby T, 2008. The susceptibility of selected NSW plant species to Phytophthora cinnamomi (PDF file 517 KB)

Documents from the Hawkesbury Nepean Catchment Management Authority Area project

• Suddaby T & Liew E, 2008. Best Practice Management Guidelines for Phytophthora cinnamomi within the Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority Area. (33 pp. - 516 KB MSWord document)
• Suddaby T & Liew E, 2008. Phytophthora cinnamomi in the Hawkesbury Nepean Catchment Management Authority Area (Map PDF file 1 MB)
• Suddaby T, 2008. Susceptibility of selected NSW plant species to Phytophthora cinnamomi (11 pp. - 398 KB MSWord document)
• Suddaby T, 2008. Survey of the distribution of Phytophthora cinnamomi in bushland of the Hawkesbury Nepean Catchment Management Authority Area (11 pp. - 663 KB MSWord document)

'Dieback caused by the root-rot fungus Phytophthora cinnamomi' is listed as a 'key threatening process' in Schedule X to the Commonwealth's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The Commonwealth has developed a Threat Abatement Plan, a Background Document, with lots of supporting information including management of Phytophthora cinnamomi, and a manual Management of Phytophthora cinnamomi for Plant Conservation in Australia. Links to these and other documents are below. 

In New South Wales, on 13 December 2002 infection of native plants by Phytophthora cinnamomi was listed as a Key Threatening Process in Schedule 3 of the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995.

Prior to developing a Threat Abatement Plan for Phytophthora cinnamomi in NSW the NSW Phytophthora Working Group have developed a Statement of Intent which identifies a number of priority actions for this key threatening process. Priority actions are the specific, practical things that must be done to tackle a key threatening process. They have been grouped into 14 overarching threat abatement strategies.

The approved ‘NSW Statement of Intent 1: infection of native plants by Phytophthora cinnamomi’ is available as a PDF file 835 KB). 

Project Dieback Blue Mountains World Heritage, 2009

Zoe-Joy Newby, is a PhD student at the University of Sydney based at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Zoe-Joy’s project is to better understand the role of Phytophthora in vegetation dieback in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (GBMWHA) and to facilitate better-informed policy and decision-making and risk management by assessing the level of threat that this pathogen is posing to the GBMWHA.  A map and risk model will be developed as a tool to assess the level of threat and being expressed on a spatial level it will assist in assigning priority to disease management and enable monitoring to assess effectiveness of management. 

Environmental Trust - in 2010 provided an Education Dissemination Grant to the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney, to develop educational material to raise the understanding of and reduce the spread of Phytophthora Dieback in NSW. See Phytophthora Dieback Education Project for details.

Further advice

As all spores and structures of Phytophthora are microscopic, only laboratory analysis of soil is definitive.

• Plant Pathology Section, The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney
  Telephone: (02) 9231 8186
  Email: pddu@rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au
  Postal: Mrs Macquaries Rd, Sydney NSW 2000 (service charges may apply; phone before sending specimens).
• List of resistant and susceptible native plants
• The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust
• Commonwealth Government
• Centre for Phytophthora Science & Management

Brochures

• Flyer- for bushwalkers (PDF file 3.1 MB)
• 5 strategies approach to manage Phytophthora Dieback (PDF file 1.6 MB)
• Managing Phytophthora Dieback - Guidelines for Local Government (PDF file 787 KB), prepared by the Dieback Working Group in Western Australia, is a great document to assist Local Government managers to develop Phytophthora Dieback Management Procedures.
• In WA - Dept of Conservation and Land Management
• Others have also developed great informational material too. For example, the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust in NSW, or in other states, such as WA Dieback Working Group.
• There are a number of sites with great material developed by other states in Australia, such as the Western Australian Project Dieback site, also includes hygiene information. There is also a detailed guide from WA, in Managing Phytophthora Dieback in Bushland A Guide for Landholders and Community Conservation Groups EDITION 4, 2008 Western Australia.