This title includes a number of Open Access chapters.

This volume includes the latest research into the diseases that affect non-vascular plants. The chapters bring to light the most recent studies of pathogen identification, disease etiology, disease cycles, economic impact, plant disease epidemiology, plant disease resistance, how plant diseases affect humans and animals, pathosystem genetics, and management of plant diseases. The information provided here helps readers to stay current with this field’s ongoing research and ever-developing knowledge base.

Dr. Philip Stewart has a PhD in horticulture with a focus on the genetics of flowering in strawberries. He has worked in association with Cornell University’s Grapevine Breeding Program, the Department of Horticulture at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and the Horticultural Sciences Program at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He has contributed to multiple publications, including the International Journal of Fruit Science, Horticultural Science, Plant Science, and BMC Plant Biology. He has served as a member on the U.S. Rosaceae Genetics and Breeding Executive Committee, the North American Strawberry Growers’ Association, and the Small Fruit Crop Germplasm Committee. Dr. Stewart is one of the inventors of the patented strawberry plant named DrisStrawSeven, and he currently works with the NCRA, State Agricultural Experiment Station Directors.

Professor Sabine Globig received her BA in 1972 at the American University School of International Service and her MS in horticulture and plant physiology in 1988 at Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey. Presently, she is Professor of Biology at Hazard Community & Technical College in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky, where she specializes in human anatomy and physiology and plant sciences. She has also worked as an Adjunct Instructor of Biology at Union County College in New Jersey and at Rutgers University, as well as a certified high school biology teacher. While at Rutgers, she worked as a plant physiology researcher at their AgBiotech Center and held the same position for DNA Plant Technologies Corporation. She has given presentations at XXII International Conference on Horticultural Science, UC Davis, California, 1987; and 1997 International Society for Horticultural Science’s International Symposium on Artificial Lighting in Horticulture, Noordwijkerhout, Netherlands. She has also been included in several Who’s Who entries.