[Oral presentation] BePSN, a Belgian network in the frame of the International Plant Sentinel Network (Euphresco-IPSN2).

A Belgian Plant Sentinel Network has started in 2017 as part of the International Plant Sentinel Network. It aims to build a self-sustainable Belgian network of botanic gardens and diagnostic laboratories for the survey and detection of (emerging) pests and diseases on plants in the collections. The network contains seven Belgian botanic gardens and arboreta, spread all over the country and with very diverse plant collections. They contain both exotic and indigenous taxa, which can be used as sentinels for recording their sensitivity to either local or
to newly introduced pests and diseases. The gardens will execute surveys and carry out firstline diagnosis, collecting the data according to standard approaches. A trapped procedure will be developed to transmit the observations/samples for identication to the laboratories. The two national reference laboratories will raise the awareness and capacity of staffs from the gardens to (new) phytosanitary problems via information and training, and making or confirming diagnoses. As it is not realistic to aim for a screening and identication of all pests and diseases on all plants in the collections during this project, four cases have been selected, all focusing on trees. These are: pine processionary moth Thaumetopoea pityocampa in conifers; the fungal pathogen Sirococcus tsugae in cedars (Cedrus spp.); a health survey on oaks (Quercus spp.); Phytoplasma and root-knot nematode occurrence in trees. These cases have been chosen for developing, testing and validating the functioning and performance of the Belgian network, following different criteria, but are not restrictive for the project.

Publication year:2017

Accessibility:Open