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Eucalyptus globulus, an exotic species in Portugal, is one of the dominant and intensively managed forest species in the country. A disease syndrome characterised by leaf necrosis, stem girdling and cutting dieback in eucalyptus and associated with pestalotioid fungi has been detected in nurseries and young plantations in the last years. Twenty-seven isolates were recovered from diseased plants. Phylogenetic analysis based on internal transcribed spacers, partial translation elongation factor 1-α gene and partial β-tubulin gene sequence data grouped the isolates in five separate clades. Combining morphological, cultural and molecular data, five new species of Neopestalotiopsis are described, namely, Neopestalotiopsis eucalyptorum, Neopestalotiopsis hispanica, Neopestalotiopsis iberica, Neopestalotiopsis longiappendiculata and Neopestalotiopsis lusitanica.

We investigate the formation of charge and spin ordering by starting from a non-interacting state and studying how it evolves in time under a Hamiltonian with finite electronic interactions. We consider the one-dimensional, half-filled extended Hubbard model, which we solve within time-dependent density matrix renormalization group. By employing linear finite-time quenches in the onsite and nearest-neighbor interactions, we find the existence of impulse, intermediate, and adiabatic regimes of time evolution. For the quenches we analyze, we observe that the adiabatic regime is reached with distinct ramping time scales depending on whether the charge density wave (CDW) or the spin density wave (SDW) is formed. The former needs to be slower than the latter to prevent entangled excited states from being accessed during the quench. More interestingly, in the intermediate regime, we observe an enhancement of the entanglement entropy with respect to its initial value, which precedes the formation of the CDW ordering; a similar enhancement is not seen in the quench towards SDW. Our findings also show that the breaking of the system integrability, by turning on the nearest-neighbor interactions, does not give rise to significant changes in the non-equilibrium behavior within the adiabatic approximation.

The search for two-dimensional (2D) systems for applications in solar cells has continuously challenged our community. Here, we report screening of 2D monolayers from group IV to XI transition-meta...

Pine pitch canker is one of the much concerning forest diseases in Europe, affecting both adult and young plant hosts. Substrates used in nurseries, especially the ones incorporating Fusarium circinatum host plant residues, such as pine bark, may represent a vehicle for the spread of the fungus. The present study tested the efficacy of solarization on the elimination of F. circinatum inoculum from an artificially inoculated substrate, after three and seven weeks of treatment application, compared with a non- solarized control treatment. The results show a reduction of the viable inoculum density of F. circinatum from the substrate after seven weeks, which suggests that substrate solarization may be a process to minimize biotic risks in a nursery.

Cryphonectria is a fungal genus associated with economically significant disease of trees. Herein we characterized a novel double-stranded RNA virus from the fungal species Cryphonectria naterciae, a species unexplored as a virus host. De novo assembly of RNA-seq data and Sanger sequencing of RACE (rapid amplification of cDNA ends) clones gave the complete, non-segmented genome (10,164 bp) of the virus termed Cryphonectria naterciae fusagravirus (CnFGV1) that was phylogenetically placed within the previously proposed viral family Fusagraviridae. Of 31 field-collected strains of C. naterciae, 40% tested CnFGV1-positive. Cocultivation resulted in within-species transmission of CnFGV1 to virus-free strains of C. naterciae. Comparison of the mycelium phenotype and the growth rate of CnFGV1-infected and virus-free isogenic strains revealed frequent sectoring and growth reduction in C. naterciae upon virus infection. Co-culturing also led to cross-species transmission of CnFGV1 to Cryphonectria carpinicola and Cryphonectria radicalis, but not to Cryphonectria parasitica. The virus-infected C. naterciae and the experimentally infected Cryphonectria spp. readily transmitted CnFGV1 through asexual spores to the next generation. CnFGV1 strongly reduced conidiation and in some cases vegetative growth of C. carpinicola, which is involved in the European hornbeam disease. This study is the first report of a fusagravirus in the family Cryphonectriaceae and lays the groundwork for assessing a hypovirulence effect of CnFGV1 against the hornbeam decline in Europe.

Producción Científica, Fusarium circinatum is a harmful pathogenic fungus mostly attacking Pinus species and also Pseudotsuga menziesii, causing cankers in trees of all ages, damping-of in seedlings, and mortality in cuttings and mother plants for clonal production. This fungus is listed as a quarantine pest in several parts of the world and the trade of potentially contaminated pine material such as cuttings, seedlings or seeds is restricted in order to prevent its spread to disease-free areas. Inspection of plant material often relies on DNA testing and several conventional or real-time PCR based tests targeting F. circinatum are available in the literature. In this work, an international collaborative study joined 23 partners to assess the transferability and the performance of nine molecular protocols, using a wide panel of DNA from 71 representative strains of F. circinatum and related Fusarium species. Diagnostic sensitivity, specifcity and accuracy of the nine protocols all reached values >80%, and the diagnostic specifcity was the only parameter difering signifcantly between protocols.The rates of false positives and of false negatives were computed and only the false positive rates difered signifcantly, ranging from 3.0% to 17.3%.The diference between protocols for some ofthe performance values were mainly due to cross-reactions with DNA from non-target species, which were either not tested or documented in the original articles. Considering that participating laboratories were free to use their own reagents and equipment, this study demonstrated that the diagnostic protocols for F. circinatum were not easily transferable to endusers. More generally, our results suggest that the use of protocols using conventional or real-time PCR outside their initial development and validation conditions should require careful characterization of the performance data priorto use under modifed conditions (i.e. reagents and equipment). Suggestions to improve the transfer are proposed., European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST Action FP1406 PINESTRENGTH), Estonian Science Foundation (grants PSG136 and IUT21-04), Centro de Estudios do Ambiente e do Mar (CESAM) (projects UID/AMB/50017/2013 and POCI-01- 0145- FEDER-007638), Slovenian Research Agency (project P4-0107)

We report a comprehensive theory to describe exciton and biexciton valley dynamics in monolayer Mo1−xWxSe2 alloys. To probe the impact of different excitonic channels, including bright and dark excitons, intravalley biexcitons, intervalley scattering between bright excitons, as well as bright biexcitons, we have performed a systematic study from the simplest system to the most complex one. In contrast to the binary WSe2 monolayer with weak photoluminescence (PL) and high valley polarization at low temperatures and the MoSe2, that presents high PL intensity, but low valley polarization, our results demonstrate that it is possible to set up a ternary alloy with intermediate W-concentration that holds simultaneously a considerably robust light emission and an efficient optical orientation of the valley pseudospin. We find the critical value of W-concentration, xc, that turns alloys from bright to darkish. The dependence of the PL intensity on temperature shows three regimes: while bright monolayer alloys display a usual temperature dependence in which the intensity decreases with rising temperature, the darkish alloys exhibit the opposite behavior, and the alloys with x around xc show a non-monotonic temperature response. Remarkably, we observe that the biexciton enhances significantly the stability of the exciton emission against fluctuations of W-concentration for bright alloys. Our findings pave the way for developing high-performance valleytronic and photo-emitting devices.

We study a quantum quench in which a magnetic impurity is suddenly coupled to Hubbard chains, whose low-energy physics is described by Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid theory. Using the time-dependent density-matrix renormalization-group (tDMRG) technique, we analyze the propagation of charge, spin and entanglement in the chains after the quench and relate the light-cone velocities to the dispersion of holons and spinons. We find that the local magnetization at the impurity site decays faster if we increase the interaction in the chains, even though the spin velocity decreases. We derive an analytical expression for the relaxation of the impurity magnetization which is in good agreement with the tDMRG results at intermediate timescales, providing valuable insight into the time evolution of the Kondo screening cloud in interacting systems., 11 pages, 5 figures

The use of valley excitonic states of transition metal dichalcogenides to store and manipulate information is hampered by fast carrier recombination and short valley lifetime. We propose theoretically a scheme to overcome such an obstacle, by applying a tilted exchange field through the magnetic proximity effect on monolayer MoS2. While the in-plane component of the exchange field brightens the dark exciton by spin mixing, the out-of-plane field can effectively gate the emission with an ON/OFF ratio of 2700. Importantly, the brightening is valley selective, leading to nearly 100% valley and spin polarization at room temperature. The resulting strongly gateable dark-exciton emission with long lifetime and near unity valley polarization makes it convenient to manipulate the valley degree of freedom, which may offer new paradigm for information processing and transmission.

Research Highlights: Pestalotiopsis pini sp. nov. is an emerging pathogen on stone pine, Pinus pinea L., in Portugal. Background and Objectives: Stone pine is one of the most important forest tree species in Portugal and in the whole Mediterranean basin. Pestalotiopsis species are common endophytes, saprobes or pathogens in a variety of hosts and environments. The objective of the present study was to identify the Pestalotiopsis species associated with the symptomatic stone pine trees. Materials and Methods: Samples of stone pine trees showing shoot blight and stem necrosis were obtained from stone pine orchards and urban areas in Portugal, and the isolated Pestalotiopsis species were identified based on morphology and combined ITS, TEF and TUB DNA sequence data. Artificial inoculations on one-year-old stone pine seedlings were performed with the two species most frequently found in association with shoot blight disease. Results: Five Pestalotiopsis spp. were isolated. A taxonomic novelty, Pestalotiopsis pini is described, representing a new pathogen for stone pine. Conclusions: Pestalotiopsis species may represent a threat to the health of pine forests in the Mediterranean basin. Future research should be done in order to increase our knowledge about the potential impact of pestalotioid species in stone pine, in order to develop management strategies against these pathogens.

Producción Científica, Fusarium circinatum, the causal agent of pine pitch canker (PPC), is currently one of the most important threats of Pinus spp. globally. This pathogen is known in many pine-growing regions, including natural and planted forests, and can affect all life stages of trees, from emerging seedlings to mature trees. Despite the importance of PPC, the global distribution of F. circinatum is poorly documented, and this problem is also true of the hosts within countries that are affected. The aim of this study was to review the global distribution of F. circinatum, with a particular focus on Europe. We considered (1) the current and historical pathogen records, both positive and negative, based on confirmed reports from Europe and globally; (2) the genetic diversity and population structure of the pathogen; (3) the current distribution of PPC in Europe, comparing published models of predicted disease distribution; and (4) host susceptibility by reviewing literature and generating a comprehensive list of known hosts for the fungus. These data were collated from 41 countries and used to compile a specially constructed geo-database. A review of 6297 observation records showed that F. circinatum and the symptoms it causes on conifers occurred in 14 countries, including four in Europe, and is absent in 28 countries. Field observations and experimental data from 138 host species revealed 106 susceptible host species including 85 Pinus species, 6 non-pine tree species and 15 grass and herb species. Our data confirm that susceptibility to F. circinatum varies between different host species, tree ages and environmental characteristics. Knowledge on the geographic distribution, host range and the relative susceptibility of different hosts is essential for disease management, mitigation and containment strategies. The findings reported in this review will support countries that are currently free of F. circinatum in implementing effective procedures and restrictions and prevent further spread of the pathogen., COST Action FP1406 (PINESTRENGTH), the Estonian Science Foundation grant PSG136, the Forestry Commission, United Kingdom, the Phytophthora Research Centre Reg. No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000453, a project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund., French National Research Agency (ANR) (ANR-11-LABX-0002-01), BBSRC, Defra, ESRC, the Forestry Commission, NERC and the Scottish Government (BB/L012251/1)

Owing to nonzero charge and spin degrees of freedom, trions offer unprecedented tunability and open new paths for applications in devices based on 2D semiconductors. However, in monolayer WSe

We propose a theoretical scheme exploiting magnetic proximity effect to realize strong excitonic emission and large, nonvolatile valley polarization in monolayer ${\mathrm{MoS}}_{2}$ at room temperature. A moderate exchange field can lead to valley-selective switching of the exciton ground state from bright to dark and a large valley-exciton splitting at the same time. The duo work synergistically to achieve a temperature enhanced valley polarization: while a large valley splitting is the critical first step for creating a valley-exciton population imbalance, this imbalance is greatly enhanced by thermal excitation from the dark ground state, with orders of magnitude longer lifetime than that of the bright exciton. Realizing robust room-temperature emission and valley polarization is essential for controlling the valley degree of freedom for information processing.

A comprehensive study of excitonic complexes in high-quality GaAs quantum wells has been performed. The polarization-resolved photoluminescence results show exciton, biexciton, and trion emissions tuned by temperature, excitation power, and by an external magnetic field. Excitons and biexcitons show important differences in their dependence on the external field. While the Zeeman splitting of biexcitons depends monotonically on the magnetic field, with a nearly constant g-factor, the behaviour of the exciton energy splitting is nonmonotonic and includes an inversion of sign as a function of the magnetic field. More importantly, we observe that a trion resonance emerges at a finite magnetic field, and only appears at low laser excitation power and for σ+ polarization emission. The non-trivial dependence of the energy levels on the external magnetic field, together with the polarization selective trion emission, leads to an intricate exciton and trion dynamics, which can be reproduced by a set of coupled rate equations. Based on this theoretical approach, we show that a fast spin-flip process can lead to the spin-asymmetric emission, which reveals a contrasting spin-dynamics of excitonic complexes ruled by their charge.

Producción Científica, Pines are major components of native forests and plantations in Europe, where they have both economic significance and an important ecological role. Diseases of pines are mainly caused by fungal and oomycete pathogens, and can significantly reduce the survival, vigor, and yield of both individual trees and entire stands or plantations. Pine pitch canker (PPC), caused by Fusarium circinatum (Nirenberg and O’Donnell), is among the most devastating pine diseases in the world, and is an example of an emergent invasive disease in Europe. The effects of microbial interactions on plant health, as well as the possible roles plant microbiomes may have in disease expression, have been the focus of several recent studies. Here, we describe the possible effects of co-infection with pathogenic fungi and oomycetes with F. circinatum on the health of pine seedlings and mature plants, in an attempt to expand our understanding of the role that biotic interactions may play in the future of PPC disease in European nurseries and forests. The available information on pine pathogens that are able to co-occur with F. circinatum in Europe is here reviewed and interpreted to theoretically predict the effects of such co-occurrences on pine survival, growth, and yield. Beside the awareness that F. circinatum may co-occurr on pines with other pathogens, an additional outcome from this review is an updating of the literature, including the so-called grey literature, to document the geographical distribution of the relevant pathogens and to facilitate differential diagnoses, particularly in nurseries, where some of them may cause symptoms similar to those induced by F. circinatum. An early and accurate diagnosis of F. circinatum, a pathogen that has been recently introduced and that is currently regulated in Europe, is essential to prevent its introduction and spread in plantings and forests., Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (Proyect AGL2015-69370-R), Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Grant No. 17-04-01486), Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/AGR-FOR/2768/2014), Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic and the European Regional Development Fund, Grant No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000453., Romanian National projects PN18040105/2018 and PN19070206/2019

We theoretically investigate the magnetic brightening, valley Zeeman splitting, and valley dynamics of long-lived A and B dark excitons (A-DEs and B-DEs) in monolayer ${\mathrm{WS}}_{2}$, subjected to tilted magnetic fields. Biexciton states and indirect intervalley excitons, with the latter composed of a hole in the $K$ valley and an electron in the $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$ valley, are also taken into account. We reveal that both in-plane and out-of-plane field components greatly affect the magnetic brightening process due to correlations among different excitonic quasiparticles but in distinct roles. Specifically, the in-plane component primarily enables the dark-state brightening, while the perpendicular one not only modifies the bright-dark splitting inside a given valley, but also lifts the valley degeneracy of either bright or dark excitonic states. Moreover, in the presence of a tilted magnetic field with a nonzero in-plane component, we observe that both A-DEs and B-DEs can be brightened, with the latter requiring a much stronger field for a certain intensity of light emission. Remarkably, we find that the valley splitting of A-DEs is around twice as large as that of A bright excitons but vanishes for B-DEs, as a result of the combined effect of the spin and orbital magnetic moments on the energy shifts of the two valleys. In addition, as the tilt angle of the field with respect to the normal direction of ${\mathrm{WS}}_{2}$ sheet increases from ${0}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ to ${180}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$, the bright-dark splittings for A and B excitons exhibit an opposite behavior, but both feature an ``X''-like pattern when the field is oriented in-plane. Finally, it is observed that the temperature greatly affects the light emission of bright and brightened dark states, while the corresponding temperature dependence is distinct for A and B excitons.

Eucalyptus globulus, a non-native species, is currently the most abundant forest species in Portugal. This economically important forest tree is exploited mainly for the production of pulp for the paper industry. The community of Botryosphaeriaceae species occurring on diseased and healthy E. globulus trees was studied on plantations throughout the country. Nine species from three different genera were identified, namely Botryosphaeria (B. dothidea), Diplodia (D. corticola and D. seriata) and Neofusicoccum (N. australe, N. algeriense, N. eucalyptorum, N. kwambonambiense, N. parvum and Neofusicoccum sp.). Of these, N. algeriense, D. corticola and D. seriata are reported for the first time on E. globulus, while N. algeriense, N. eucalyptorum and N. kwambonambiense correspond to first reports in Portugal. The genus Neofusicoccum was clearly dominant with N. australe and N. eucalyptorum being the most abundant species on both diseased and healthy trees. In artificial inoculation trials representative isolates from all nine species were shown to be pathogenic to E. globulus but there were marked differences in aggressiveness between them. Thus, D. corticola and N. kwambonambiense were the most aggressive while B. dothidea and D. seriata were the least aggressive of the species studied.

Owing to nonzero charge and spin degrees of freedom, trions offer unprecedented tunability and open new paths for applications in devices based on 2D semiconductors. However, in monolayer WSe2, the trion photoluminescence is commonly detected only at low temperatures and vanishes at room temperature, which undermines practical applications. To unveil how to overcome this obstacle, we have developed a comprehensive theory to probe the impact of different excitonic channels on the trion emission in WSe2 monolayers, which combines ab initio tight-binding formalism, Bethe-Salpeter equation and a set of coupled rate equations to describe valley dynamics of excitonic particles. Through a systematic study in which new scattering channels are progressively included, we found that, besides the low electron density, strong many-body correlations between bright and dark excitonic states quenches the trion emission in WSe2. Therefore, the reduction of scatterings from bright to dark states is required to achieve trion emission at room temperature for experimentally accessible carrier concentrations.

Producción Científica, Fusarium circinatum Nirenberg & O’Donnel is listed among the species recommended for regulation as quarantine pests in Europe. Over 60 Pinus species are susceptible to the pathogen and it also causes disease on Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) and species in genera such as Picea and Larix. The European Food Safety Authority considers the probability of new introductions—via contaminated seeds, wood material, soil and growing substrates, natural means and human activities—into the EU very likely. Due to early detection, constant surveillance and control measures, F. circinatum outbreaks have officially been eradicated in Italy and France. However, the global spread of F. circinatum suggests that the pathogen will continue to be encountered in new environments in the future. Therefore, continuous surveillance of reproductive material, nurseries and plantations, prompt control measures and realistic contingency plans will be important in Europe and elsewhere to limit disease spread and the “bridgehead effect”, where new introductions of a tree pathogen become increasingly likely as new environments are invaded, must be considered. Therefore, survey programs already implemented to limit the spread in Europe and that could be helpful for other EU countries are summarized in this review. These surveys include not only countries where pitch canker is present, such as Portugal and Spain, but also several other EU countries where F. circinatum is not present. Sampling protocols for seeds, seedlings, twigs, branches, shoots, soil samples, spore traps and insects from different studies are collated and compiled in this review. Likewise, methodology for morphological and molecular identification is herein presented. These include conventional PCR with a target-specific region located in the intergenic spacer region, as well as several real-time PCR protocols, with different levels of specificity and sensitivity. Finally, the global situation and future perspectives are addressed., European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST Action FP1406 PINESTRENGTH), Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (project AGL2015-69370-R), Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016785), Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (project PTDC/AGR-FOR/2768/2014 and grant SFRH/BPD/122928/2016), Centro de Estudios do Ambiente e do Mar (CESAM) (project UID/AMB/50017/2019)

Arboreal fungal endophytes are a highly diverse group of organisms associated with asymptomatic tissues and some of them are latent pathogens. The knowledge of fungal endophytes is limited, because previous studies mainly focused on foliar fungal endophytes of a limited number of host species and locations. We assessed the fungal endophyte diversity in twigs of congeneric native and exotic tree species belonging to eleven angiosperm and gymnosperm genera in mostly temperate regions of 32 countries on six continents. We describe how host taxonomy and geographic location affect endophyte diversity and how diversity differs between native and exotic trees. More than 400 samples were collected on both hemispheres and fungal communities were assessed by high-throughput sequencing. Sampling was done in winter, because trees are mostly traded in winter, when deciduous trees lack foliage. We found around 15, 000 fungal Exact Sequence Variants (ESVs) associated with the tree genera. ESV richness varied among sampled taxa, but did not differ between native and exotic hosts. ESV richness in most of the northern hemisphere tree genera peaked at 45-50 degrees of latitude, but the pattern for southern hemisphere genera was not clear. The endophyte communities of angiosperms and gymnosperms differed ; around 30% of all ESVs were found in a single genus and less than 1% was found in all genera. Distinct geographic patterns among and within continents were found and the similarity of the endophyte communities decreased with distance between sampling locations in most genera. This study reveals fungal endophyte diversity on an unprecedented scale as a result of the wide geographic and taxonomic diversity of the samples. The geographic differences in ESVs in particular suggest that international live plant trade can facilitate the exchange of geographically isolated fungal communities, which could threaten tree-based resources in importing countries.

We theoretically investigate the valley Zeeman splitting, dark-exciton brightening, and magnetic-field-controlled dark-exciton engaged valley dynamics in monolayer ${\mathrm{WSe}}_{2}$ subjected to a tilted magnetic field $\mathbf{B}$. In Faraday geometry (out-of-plane ${B}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$), only bright-exciton emissions emerge, and the valley polarization (VP) as a function of ${B}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$ for ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{+}$ and ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ circularly polarized laser excitations features an ``X'' pattern, i.e., the VP is locked to the valley. We also find that the photoluminescence (PL) intensity exhibits a similar behavior to VP. In the Voigt geometry (in-plane ${B}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}$), however, aside from the bright-exciton emission, the dark exciton becomes brightening. The PL intensity of the dark exciton is enhanced parabolically with increasing ${B}_{\ensuremath{\parallel}}$, independent of the pumping laser helicity. For B along any other direction, as B increases, the dark-exciton emission intensity increases but depends on the pumping laser helicity, accompanied by an decrease of its VP. Furthermore, not only the bright-exciton but also the dark-exciton emission peak splits for laser excitation with different circular polarizations. In addition, the latter demonstrates a much larger peak splitting than the former, which facilitates individual manipulation of each of the two valleys. Our theory paves the way for a study of the properties of bright-dark hybrid states with lifetime orders of magnitude longer than that of the bright states, which is desirable for fields of either spintronics or valleytronics (or their combination).

O castanheiro europeu (Castanea sativa Mill.) é a árvore central de um sistema agroflorestal extensivo e multifuncional muito característico das montanhas do nordeste de Portugal. A introdução do fungo Cryphonectria parasitica (Murrill) Barr que provoca no castanheiro cancros nos tecidos corticais é desde a sua introdução, em 1989, a principal causa de morte do castanheiro. Não existindo meios de luta eficazes a remoção dos cancros é utilizada para reduzir o inóculo do parasita. O método evidenciou pouca eficácia e a doença está presente em todas as regiões de castanheiro. A Hipovirulência, mediada pela presença do hipovírus CHV1, é um método muito eficaz para o tratamento dos cancros e recuperação dos castanheiros. Foi objetivo deste trabalho avaliar a estrutura da população de C. parasitica para introduzir a Hipovirulência. Em 3 freguesias, onde a doença está presente desde a sua introdução, foi estudada a estrutura populacional do fungo parasita. Numa malha geográfica de 500x500m, 70 pontos de amostragem e 1331 castanheiros foram estudados. A análise geoestatística revelou focos de grande intensidade da doença que variaram de 54,75 a 73,33%. Foram identificados 5 vc types. EU-11 é o grupo dominante com 85,55%, seguido do EU01 (5,34%), EU66 (4,58%) e EU12 (2,90%), considerados novas introduções do parasita. O idiomorfo MAT-1 e MAT-2 estão presentes nas populações estudadas, sendo o MAT-2 dominante. A proporção 1:1 identificada, num dos locais, sugere multiplicação sexuada do fungo. A ainda baixa diversidade vc type na população de C. parasitica aconselha a introdução da Hipovirulência como meio de luta preferencial contra o Cancro do Castanheiro em Portugal. Chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill) is an ancient and low input agroforestry system of the Portuguese Northeast Mountains. Chestnut Blight that triggered a disturbing epidemics, which became a major cause of chestnut tree mortality after its establishment in 1989, is associated with Cryphonectria parasitica (Murrill) Barr, an invasive alien aggressive plant pathogens. Disease control is attempted by canker removal which was not efficient and disease has continuously increase and spread. Biological control by hypovirulence, a hypovirus CHV1 mediated system, is an efficient method to control the disease and improve the host plant recovery. The main goal of this work was obtaining, the rational for applying hypovirulence to control Chestnut Blight in Portugal. In three parishes, where the chestnut blight is present since its introduction, and applying the georeferencing methods the spread and the genetic population structure of C. parasitica was evaluated. In a 500x500m geographic grid, 70 sampled points and 1331 trees were evaluated. The geostatistical analysis showed widespread distribution of the disease with outbreaks with high incidence of the disease varying from 54.55% to 73 33%. Overall, five vc types were found. EU-11 is the dominant vc type comprising 85.50% of the isolates, followed by EU01 (5.34%), EU66 (4.58%) and EU12 (2.90%), that were considered new introductions of the parasite. MAT-1 and MAT-2 were identified in all study sites. MAT-2 is dominant but in one location near 1:1 that configure sexual reproduction. The still low diversity of vc type in the C. parasitica population recommend hypovirulence introduction as a preferential mean to control Chestnut Blight in Portugal. El castaño (Castanea sativa Mill.) es el árbol central de un sistema agroforestal multifuncional muy característico de las montañas del nordeste de Portugal. La introducción del hongo Cryphonectria parasitica (Murrill) Barr, que causa los chancros en el tejido cortical, es desde su introducción en 1989, la principal causa de muerte de los castaños. En ausencia de medios de control eficazes la eliminación de los chancros se utiliza para reducir el inóculo del parásito El método demostró poca efectividad y la enfermedad está presente en todas las regiones de la castaña de Portugal. El hipovirulencia, mediada por la presencia de virus CHV1 (dsRNA) es un método muy eficaz para el tratamiento de los chancros y la recuperación de los castaños. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo evaluar la estructura de la población C. parasitica para aplicar la hipovirulencia. En tres lugares, donde la enfermedad está presente desde su introducción, se estudió la estructura poblacional del hongo parásito. Usando una malla geográfica de 500x500m, se estudiaron 70 puntos de muestreo y 1331castaños. El análisis geoestadística reveló focos de alta intensidad de la enfermedad que van desde 54,75 a 73,33%. Se identificaron 5 vc. types. EU-11 és el grupo dominante con 85,55%, seguido por el EU01(5,34%), EU66(4,58%) y EU12(2,90%). Los idiomorfos MAT-1 y MAT-2 están presentes en las poblaciones estudiadas y la MAT-2 és dominante. La proporción 1:1 se identificó lo que indica la multiplicación sexual del hongo. La baja diversidad vc type en la población de C. parasitica recomienda la introducción de hipovirulencia para controlar el chancro del castaño en Portugal. Este estudo foi financiado pela FCT e programa COMPETE através do projeto PTDC/AGR-PRO/4606/2012 –“HiCC – Luta Biológica por Hipovirulência contra o Cancro do castanheiro em Portugal”. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Summary The Eucalyptus pathogen Quambalaria eucalypti has been reported from several subtropical and tropical countries of the Southern Hemisphere. During the course of a nationwide monitoring programme aimed at the detection of pathogens in commercial eucalypt plantations in Portugal, Q. eucalypti was found affecting Eucalyptus globulus. The identity of the pathogen was confirmed by sequence analyses of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the rDNA operon, as well as morphological characteristics. Quambalaria eucalypti is widespread throughout the eucalypt-producing areas of Portugal. Pathogenicity studies revealed that different host genotypes showed various degrees of susceptibility to the pathogen. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Q. eucalypti on Eucalyptus spp. in Portugal and in the Northern Hemisphere.

Live plants are often traded in their dormant stage, among other reasons to reduce the introduction of new pests. However, the pests associated with this pathway are largely unknown. Risk mitigation relies on pest risk assessments which can only be performed for known pests. It is therefore important to identify potential pests before the introduction occurs. In addition, post arrival host shifts are very difficult to predict. Several studies attempted to estimate the likelihood of host shifts based on existing literature data on known pest-host associations, but the number of pests in these studies was often limited and the data were unlikely collected in the same place and at the same time. To overcome these problems, we performed a global study which aimed at detecting potential insect pests and fungal pathogens on selected congeneric native and exotic tree species in 33 countries. Samples were taken in botanical gardens and arboreta on the Northern and Southern hemisphere. At each location, twenty 50 cm long twigs were collected from tree species of up to six genera and kept in containers with water at room temperature for insect emergence. Emerged insects were collected and identified based on morphology and DNA barcoding of the mitochondrial DNA COI region. DNA was also extracted from pooled buds, twig parts and needles for the identification of fungi based on the ribosomal DNA ITS region using a high-throughput sequencing approach. Here, we present the first results of this study and discuss them in the context of pest risk assessment.

Summary Teratosphaeria gauchensis and T. zuluensis both cause a stem canker of eucalypts that leads to serious damage in various parts of the world. Until recently, this disease was unknown in Portugal. Nevertheless, severe damage to Eucalyptus globulus has been observed in Portugal since 2006 when symptoms appeared as necrotic spots on young green stems and leaves, twig lesions, and dark oval-shaped lesions on stems and trunks. The isolates from affected E. globulus tree plantations were identified using sequence data of the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 and EF-1α clusters, together with morphological characteristics. Based on these results, the causal organism was identified as T. gauchensis, which represents the first report of this pathogen from Portugal.

Short Communication The fungus Sydowia polyspora is frequently isolated from conifers worldwide and is considered a pathogen on several hosts. Stone pine (Pinus pinea) is one of the most important forestry species throughout the Mediterranean basin due to the value of the edible pine nut. Stone pines showing tip dieback, needles with tan- to yellowcoloured lesions and shoot death, observed in stands in Portugal, were sampled for analysis. Fungal colonies covered with cream-coloured spore masses, were consistently obtained. Morphological and phylogenetic analyses of the ITS rDNA region enabled identification of these isolates as S. polyspora. Inoculation tests showed that the fungus caused lesions on excised P. pinea shoots. The symptoms observed might have a negative effect on pine nut production, and thus, evaluation of the impact of this disease is of relevance to future research. This paper is the first to report S. polyspora causing disease on P. pinea info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

We developed a comprehensive theoretical framework focusing on many-body effects of exciton species in monolayer WS$_2$, including bright and dark excitons, and intra- and inter-valley biexcitons, to investigate valley dynamics in monolayer WS$_2$ subjected to a tilted magnetic field B. In particular, the evolution of the exciton population densities and the many-body particle scatterings are considered to calculate the valley polarization (V P ) as a function of the magnetic field. We found valley splittings for the dark exciton and biexciton energy levels that are larger than those of bright excitons, of -0.23 meV/T. For example, -0.46 meV/T for dark excitons and -0.69 meV/T for bright-dark intra-valley biexcitons. Furthermore, inter-valley bright-dark excitons have an opposite valley energy splittings of +0.23 meV/T. For the samples pumped by linearly polarized light, V P exhibits distinct magnetic field dependence for different types of many-body particle states. Among them, the V P of the intra-valley bright-dark biexcitons increases with increasing magnetic field and reaches nearly 50% at B=65 T. The brightened dark exciton, on the other hand, exhibits vanishing VP, indicating long valley relaxation time. Remarkably, the inter-valley bright-dark biexciton shows unconventional behavior with an inverted VP. The opposite VP for intra- and inter-valley bright-dark biexcitons, coupled with their large valley splitting and long valley lifetime may facilitate their coherent manipulation for quantum computing.

We study the relationship between the pseudogap and Fermi-surface topology in the two-dimensional Hubbard model by means of the cellular dynamical mean-field theory. We find two possible mean-field metallic solutions on a broad range of interaction, doping and frustration: a conventional renormalized metal and an unconventional pseudogap metal. At half-filling, the conventional metal is more stable and displays an interaction-driven Mott metal-insulator transition. However, for large interaction and small doping, region that is relevant for cuprates, the pseudogap phase becomes the ground state. By increasing doping, we show that a first-order transition from the pseudogap to the conventional metal is tight to a change of the Fermi surface from hole to electron like, unveiling a correlation-driven mechanism for a Lifshitz transition. This explains the puzzling link between pseudogap phase and Fermi surface topology which has been pointed out in recent experiments., Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett. 4 pages + references, 5 figures, supplementary material

We investigate the out-of-equilibrium dynamics after a local quench that connects two spin-1/2 XXZ chains prepared in the ground state of the Hamiltonian in different phases, one in the ferromagnetic phase and the other in the critical phase. We analyze the time evolution of the on-site magnetization and bipartite entanglement entropy via adaptive time-dependent density matrix renormalization group. In systems with short-range interactions, such as the one we consider, the velocity of information transfer is expected to be bounded, giving rise to a light-cone effect. Interestingly, our results show that, when the anisotropy parameter of the critical chain is sufficiently close to that of the isotropic ferromagnet, the light cone is determined by the velocity of spin-wave bound states that propagate faster than single-particle (``spinon'') excitations. Furthermore, we investigate how the system approaches equilibrium in the inhomogeneous ground state of the connected system, in which the ferromagnetic chain induces a nonzero magnetization in the critical chain in the vicinity of the interface.

We study the physics of quantum phase transitions from the perspective of nonequilibrium thermodynamics. For first-order quantum phase transitions, we find that the average work done per quench in crossing the critical point is discontinuous. This leads us to introduce the quantum latent work in analogy with the classical latent heat of first order classical phase transitions. For second order quantum phase transitions the irreversible work is closely related to the fidelity susceptibility for weak sudden quenches of the system Hamiltonian. We demonstrate our ideas with numerical simulations of first, second, and infinite order phase transitions in various spin chain models. © 2014 American Physical Society.

Summary Dothistroma needle blight (DNB) is one of the most important diseases of pine. Although its notoriety stems from Southern Hemisphere epidemics in Pinus radiata plantations, the disease has increased in prevalence and severity in areas of the Northern Hemisphere, including Europe, during the last two decades. This increase has largely been attributed to expanded planting of susceptible hosts, anthropogenic dispersal of the causative pathogens and changes in climate conducive to disease development. The last comprehensive review of DNB was published in 2004, with updates on geographic distribution and host species in 2009. Importantly, the recognition that two species, Dothistroma septosporum and D. pini, cause DNB emerged only relatively recently in 2004. These two species are morphologically very similar, and DNA-based techniques are needed to distinguish between them. Consequently, many records of host species affected or geographic location of DNB prior to 2004 are inconclusive or even misleading. The objectives of this review were (i) to provide a new database in which detailed records of DNB from 62 countries are collated; (ii) to chart the current global distribution of D. septosporum and D. pini; (iii) to list all known host species and to consider their susceptibility globally; (iv) to collate the published results of provenance trials; and (v) to consider the effects of site factors on disease incidence and severity. The review shows that DNB occurs in 76 countries, with D. septosporum confirmed to occur in 44 and D. pini in 13. There are now 109 documented Pinaceae host taxa for Dothistroma species, spanning six genera (Abies, Cedrus, Larix, Picea, Pinus and Pseudotsuga), with Pinus being the dominant host genus, accounting for 95 host taxa. The relative susceptibilities of these hosts to Dothistroma species are reported, providing a resource to inform species choice in forest planting. Country records show that most DNB outbreaks in Europe occur on Pinus nigra and its subspecies. It is anticipated that the collaborative work described in this review will both underpin a broader global research strategy to manage DNB in the future and provide a model for the study of other forest pathogens.

Summary Cryphonectria parasitica, the causal agent of chestnut blight, has been responsible for the decline in chestnut in Portugal for the last two decades. In order to improve understanding of C. parasitica diversity, a total of 617 isolates from all affected chestnut-growing areas in continental Portugal, Madeira and the Azores archipelagos were studied. Nine vegetative compatibility (vc) types were identified among the isolates. EU-11 was the most widespread vc type comprising 80.2% of the isolates, followed by EU-12 (7.1%) and EU-66 (6.6%). Two of the Portuguese vc types could not be assigned to a known European vc type. The diversity of vc types was low in the Portuguese populations of C. parasitica, but comparable with other areas where C. parasitica was introduced recently. The frequent occurrence of perithecia and both mating types of C. parasitica indicates that sexual reproduction of the chestnut blight fungus is common in Portugal. One C. parasitica isolate from Tras-os-Montes showed a white culture morphology and contained dsRNA, indicating the presence of hypovirulence in this area.

We study the nonequilibrium interplay between disorder and interactions in a closed quantum system. We base our analysis on the notion of dynamical state-space localization, calculated via the Loschmidt echo. Although real-space and state-space localization are independent concepts in general, we show that both perspectives may be directly connected through a specific choice of initial states, namely, maximally localized states (ML-states). We show numerically that in the noninteracting case the average echo is found to be monotonically increasing with increasing disorder; these results are in agreement with an analytical evaluation in the single particle case in which the echo is found to be inversely proportional to the localization length. We also show that for interacting systems, the length scale under which equilibration may occur is upper bounded and such bound is smaller the greater the average echo of ML-states. When disorder and interactions, both being localization mechanisms, are simultaneously at play the echo features a non-monotonic behaviour indicating a non-trivial interplay of the two processes. This interplay induces delocalization of the dynamics which is accompanied by delocalization in real-space. This non-monotonic behaviour is also present in the effective integrability which we show by evaluating the gap statistics., 6 figures, appendix, improved version

The interplay between Mott and Anderson routes to localization in disordered interacting systems gives rise to different transitions and transport regimes. Here, we investigate the phase diagram at finite temperatures using dynamical mean field theory combined with typical medium theory, which is an effective theory of the Mott-Anderson metal-insulator transition. We mainly focus on the properties of the coexistence region associated with the Mott phase transition. For weak disorder, the coexistence region is found to be similar as in the clean case. However, as we increase disorder Anderson localization effects are responsible for shrinking the coexistence region and at sufficiently strong disorder (approximately equal to twice the bare bandwidth) it drastically narrows, the critical temperature abruptly goes to zero, and we observe a phase transition in the absence of a coexistence of the metallic and insulating phases. In this regime, the effects of interaction and disorder are found to be of comparable importance for charge localization., Comment: minor changes, 8 pages, 9 figures

Essential oils from foliage, bark and heartwood of Cryptomeriajaponica D. Don from Azores Archipelago (Portugal) were analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Two populations, of black and reddish heartwood color, were studied. The main compounds found in the foliage of both populations were alpha-pinene (9.6-29.5%), (+)-phyllocladene (3.5-26.5%), ent-kaur-16-ene (0.2-20.6%), sabinene (0.5-19.9%) and limonene (1.4-11.5%), with a large variation in individual compounds from each population. Heartwood oils were characterized by a high content of cubebol (2.8-39.9%) and epi-cubebol (4.1-26.9%) isomers, which were absent in the foliage. Elemol and eudesmol isomers were found in the foliage and heartwood oils, while (+)-phyllocladene was absent in heartwood. Black and reddish bark oils were composed of the diterpenes dehydroferruginol (1.9-5.1%) and ferruginol (2.6-11.5%), along with the sesquiterpenes delta-cadinene (10.4-15.9%), alpha-muurolene (3.3-5.4%), epi-zonarene (4.0-5.0%), cubenol (9.3-14.0%), tau-muurolol (4.8-10.7%), beta-eudesmol (3.0-9.9%), gamma-eudesmol (1.9-7.0%) and hedycariol (1.4-6.2%). Azorean C. japonica oils exhibited significant chemical differences compared with native plants from Asia. The essential oils showed moderate antimicrobial activity against the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans and human pathogenic bacteria (especially against multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis). The antimicrobial activity of the essential oils may be attributed to compounds such as ent-kaur-16-ene, (+)-phyllocladene, ferruginol and elemol, which are present in different proportions within the complex oil mixture. These results suggest a potential use for C. japonica oils obtained from wood industry leftovers.

An overview of pest and disease problems in the main types of Portuguese forest is presented. Native pine forests, mainly Pinus pinaster and Pinus pinea have been occasionally affected by native bark beetles, cone feeders, one defoliator (the pine processionary moth) and a few fungi. Thus far, problems with these native pests and pathogens, arise mostly during outbreaks or epizootic periods. In most cases they are associated with poor forest management, fires or drought stress. Nevertheless, some alien pests and pathogens have recently become reason for concern, namely the pinewood nematode and Fusarium circinatum. Mediterranean forests composed of evergreen oaks, namely Quercus suber and Quercus ilex, were in the past mainly affected by defoliators such as Lymantria dispar and Tortrix viridana. During the second half of the 20th century, oak decline increased and was attributed to drought stress, together with a complex interaction of biotic agents. Fungi in the genera Biscogniauxia and Diplodia, the Oomycete Phytophthora cinnamomi together with bark and wood borers, in particular Platypus cylindrus, were associated with the most serious cases. For more than a century the exotic Eucalyptus forest plantations were free from pests and pathogens. However, they are currently threatened by increasing numbers of pests and diseases mainly originating from Australia. Some of them cause severe damage and compromise productivity. For all these forest ecosystems, health problems are expected to be favoured by climate changes and new biological invasions, implying that efforts should be made to develop new control strategies to combat future threats.

Recently, it has been suggested that operational properties connected to quantum computation can be alternative indicators of quantum phase transitions. In this work we systematically study these operational properties in 1D systems that present phase transitions of different orders. For this purpose, we evaluate the local convertibility between bipartite ground states. Our results suggest that the operational properties, related to non-analyticities of the entanglement spectrum, are good detectors of explicit symmetries of the model, but not necessarily of phase transitions. We also show that thermodynamically equivalent phases, such as Luttinger liquids, may display different convertibility properties depending on the underlying microscopic model., Comment: 5 pages + references, 4 figures - improved version

In a recent study intended to assess the distribution of Cryphonectria parasitica in Portugal, 22 morphologically atypical orange isolates were collected in the Midwestern regions. Eleven isolates were recovered from Castanea sativa, in areas severely affected by chestnut blight and eleven isolates from Quercus suber in areas with cork oak decline. These isolates were compared with known C. parasitica and Cryphonectria radicalis isolates using an integrated approach comprising morphological and molecular methods. Morphologically the atypical isolates were more similar to C. radicalis than to C. parasitica. Phylogenetic analyses based on internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and β-tubulin sequence data grouped the isolates in a well-supported clade separate from C. radicalis. Combining morphological, cultural, and molecular data Cryphonectria naterciae is newly described in the Cryphonectria-Endothia complex. Microsatellite-primed PCR fingerprinting with (GACA)(4) primer discriminated between C. naterciae, C. radicalis, and C. parasitica.