Mag.a Dr.in Katharina Schwanda was awarded a prize from the fund "120 Years of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences" on 20 May 2021 for her dissertation "Pathological investigations on ash dieback". In her work, she focused on ash dieback, which is caused by the sac fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus (ash disco), introduced from East Asia. Schwanda has been a staff member at the Institute of Forest Protection at the Federal Research Centre for Forests (BFW) since 2015.
Ash dieback is a widespread and often fatal disease of the common ash and other ash species across Europe. In her dissertation, Katharina Schwanda carried out a range of investigations to clarify the cause, symptoms, and disease cycle of ash dieback, the susceptibility of the three European ash species, and the pathogen itself.
Through a combination of field and laboratory work, Schwanda applied a wide variety of methods that have greatly expanded our knowledge of ash dieback. Beyond the scientific value of the research findings, the insights are also of practical importance for better assessing the threat posed to ash by the introduced pathogen and for implementing appropriate forest protection measures. "I'm really pleased that Katharina Schwanda works here at BFW and contributes her expertise to ongoing research and practical advisory work," says BFW director Peter Mayer. The dissertation was supervised by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Thomas Kirisits from the Institute of Forest Entomology, Forest Pathology and Forest Protection at BOKU.
Working in phytopathology
Katharina Schwanda works at BFW in the "Phytopathology" department. Her main areas of work include the diagnosis of fungal diseases, experimental design and implementation, project acquisition, and specialist presentations both at home and abroad. She was already involved in teaching at BOKU during her doctoral studies.
The fund "120 Years of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences" supports outstanding research achievements in the fields of soil science, forest ecology, silviculture, forest growth, forest engineering, forest protection, and wood research.
