Related Sites
 

Cornell Center for Fungal Biology
In 1995, Cornell acknowledged the environmental and industrial impacts of fungi by establishing the Cornell Center for Fungal Biology to coordinate activities of fungal biologists across eight academic units on campus. The Web site of this Cornell research center showcases, in particular, the fungi of the Lindsay-Parsons Biodiversity Preserve Project.

Cornell Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic
The Web site of the Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic provides educational fact sheets about numerous diseases on a wide range of host plants, a listing by county (NY state) of diagnosed diseases, information on submitting samples for analysis, submission forms, links to similar sites and links to researchers and staff.

Cornell Plant Pathology Herbarium
The Cornell Plant Pathology Herbarium (CUP) is North America's fourth largest collection of preserved specimens of fungi and plant diseases. We hold about 400,000 specimens from around the world.

CUP is a kind of biological library. We're different from conventional libraries in that almost every single one of our specimens is unique and not held by any other institution. Most of our holdings are fungi -- mushrooms, molds, yeasts, mildews and such. Over 80% of plant diseases are caused by fungi. Some of our holdings represent the common mushrooms and plant diseases of New York; some are "type specimens" which were the first discovered of their species. This rich collection of biological "memories" is called upon to support identification, systematics, and genomics, and documents the historical spread of some important plant diseases like Dutch elm disease and Chestnut blight.

We also hold about 60,000 historical photographs taken between 1880 and today. They depict mushrooms, plant disease symptoms, plant disease control, and agricultural workers and equipment over the last century. About 1500 of our images have been digitized, some of which are presented on Explore Cornell.

Cornell Department of Plant Pathology (Ithaca, NY)
A unit of the New York State College of Agriculture & Life Sciences of Cornell University.

Cornell Department of Plant Pathology (Geneva, NY)
Plant pathologists at Geneva investigate diseases of fruits and vegetables, and provide effective, science-based advice on their control through various outreach programs. Their research encompasses pathogen biology and ecology, epidemiology, biological control, resistance of pathogens to modern plant disease pharmaceuticals, plant-microbe interactions, and plant breeding.

Smokin' Doc Thurston's Greatest Hits
A collection of over 2500 pictures of international agriculture taken over 50 years by Professor H. David Thurston, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Plant Pathology.

Peziza michelii. Photo: K. Loeffler. Copyright © Cornell Center for Fungal Biology.


Fungi that cause insect diseases aren't subtle. This unlucky wasp got some fungal spores stuck to its body. When the spores germinated, they bored through the tough exoskeleton, and developed into a mycelium in the circulatory system. The mycelium grew until it completely replaced the innards of the bug. Finally, thread-like fruiting bodies emerged to produce new spores.

This particular pathogen is called Hirsutella saussurei. It's one of about 1000 species of insect pathogens that occur around the world, each specific to a certain kind of bug. Photo: K. Hodge.