Caterina Villari
Associate Professor of Forest Pathology
Caterina Villari is an associate professor of forest pathology at the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources and a Co-Director of the Southern Pine Health Research Cooperative. She leads an active program bridging basic and applied forest pathology and spanning disciplines from molecular disease diagnostics to tree defense mechanisms.
Education
Education
Ph.D., Crop Science, Plant Protection Curriculum, University of Padua (Italy), 2012
M.S., Plant Health Sciences and Technologies, University of Florence (Italy), 2008
B.S., Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Florence (Italy), 2005
Professional Appointments
Professional Appointments
Associate Professor of Forest Pathology, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, 2022 – Present
Assistant Professor of Forest Pathology, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, 2016 – 2022
Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University, 2013 – 2016
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment, University of Padua (Italy), 2013 -2013
Other Professional Experience
Other Professional Experience
Co-Director, Southern Pine Health Research Cooperative, University of Georgia, 2018 – present
Awards & Honors
Awards & Honors
2022 Fred C. Davison Early Career Scholar Award, University of Georgia
Publications
Publications
Google Scholar page: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JUyBOH0AAAAJ&hl=en
10 relevant publications:
1. Meinecke C., Niyas A.M., McCarty E., Quesada T., Smith J., Villari C. 2024. Searching the Pinus taeda foliar mycobiome for emerging pathogens among brown spot needle blight and needlecast outbreaks in the Southeast United States. Phytobiomes Journal, 8:512-528.
2. Lim-Hing S., Montes C., Walker T., Shalizi N., Gandhi K., Villari C. 2024. Enhanced fusiform rust hazard maps for loblolly pine: Incorporating genotype and climate to predict disease. Forest Ecology and Management 569: 122158.
3. Conrad A., Villari C., Bonello P. 2024. A workflow for metabolomics of forest tree biotic stress response and applications for management. In Monitoring Forest Damage with Metabolomics Methods. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119868750.ch5
4. Lim-Hing S., Gandhi K., Villari C. 2023. The role of Manganese in tree defenses against pests and pathogens. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 210:108641.
5. Meinecke C., De Vos L., Yilmaz N., Steenkamp E., Wingfield M., Wingfield B., Villari C., 2023. A LAMP assay for rapid detection of the pitch canker pathogen Fusarium circinatum. Plant Disease, 107:2916-2923.
6. McCarty E., Clabo D., Dickens D., Waldrop C., Gandhi K., Villari C. 2023. Loblolly pine susceptibility to Nantucket pine tip moth: do tree genetics play a role? Forest Science 69:520-528.
7. Fearer C. J., Conrad A. O., Marra R. E., Georskey C., Villari C., Slot J., Bonello P., 2022. A combined approach for early in-field detection of beech leaf disease using near-infrared spectroscopy and machine learning. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change 5: 934545.
8. Aglietti C., Meinecke C.D., Ghelardini L., Barnes I., van der Nest A., Villari C., 2021. Rapid detection of pine pathogens Lecanosticta acicola, Dothistroma pini and D. septosporum on needles by probe-based LAMP assays. Forests 12:479.
9. Hamilton J.L., Fraedrich S.W., Nairn C.J., Mayfield A.E., Villari C., 2021. A field-portable diagnostic approach confirms laurel wilt disease diagnosis in minutes instead of days. Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 47:98-109.
10. Hamilton J.L., Workman J.N., Nairn C.J., Fraedrich S.W., Villari C., 2020. Rapid detection of Raffaelea lauricola directly from host plant and beetle vector tissues using loop-mediated isothermal amplification. Plant Disease 104:3151-3158.
Other Links
Other Links
Professional Website: Google Scholar Profile
