As part of a nationwide effort to protect crop plants and agricultural ecosystems against plant pests and diseases, introduced accidentally or through acts of bioterrorism, the University of California, Davis, has been designated to host a western regional surveillance and diagnostics network.

A $900,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will fund a new Western Center for Plant Disease and Pest Surveillance and Detection, coordinated by UC Davis' College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The center will work with partners throughout the western United States to establish a network for detecting and diagnosing plant-health problems.

"Western agriculture provides most of the fresh fruits and vegetables consumed in the United States," said Neal Van Alfen, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. "We look forward to collaborating with other academic institutions as well as federal, state and private agencies to safeguard this vital component of the nation's food supply."

The UC Davis center will oversee collaboration within the new Western Region Plant Pest and Disease Diagnostics Surveillance Network, which will include Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and the U.S. territories in the South Pacific.

Director of the new campus center and diagnostic network will be Richard Bostock, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Plant Pathology.

"The Western region represents a tremendous diversity in crops, cropping systems and climates," Bostock said. "Establishing an effective network for monitoring, detecting and diagnosing plant pests and diseases will be a challenging, but vital task."

In addition to coordinating the new network, UC Davis has several facilities and programs that will contribute to network activities. These include the campus herbarium, a collection of dried plant specimens; the UC Davis-based Western Region Pest Management Center, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture; and the new Western Institute for Food Safety and Security, administered by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The newly established network will concentrate on linking the personnel, information systems and databases at diagnostic laboratories in each state throughout the region in order to better track the health of crops or the progression of a disease or insect outbreak. There will be a concentrated effort to provide more timely diagnostic information to the agricultural agents and specialists who must deal with pest or disease problems at the local level. The network also will work to upgrade equipment and other resources at the various diagnostic labs.

Nationally, a comprehensive voice, video and data communications infrastructure will be established to provide early detection and diagnostic capabilities for plant disease and pest concerns. In the Western region, each state will have a designated "duty officer" to receive notification of potential problems, and the network will be linked via video conferencing systems.

The network also will provide training opportunities for agricultural producers, pesticide applicators, seed-certification specialists and crop consultants to better equip them to recognize and report any irregularities.

The western regional center at UC Davis will take the lead in providing Web-based reference materials to aid in the detection and diagnosis of disease and pest problems.