My research field is the biology, ecology and genetics of beneficial and detrimental microorganisms in natural ecosystems, plantation forestry and horticulture, with a focus on biodiversity and biosecurity issues. I have made significant contributions to these fields especially in the area of pathogen population genetics where I designed several sets of microsatellite markers that were among the first developed for fungal pathogens. I explored cryptic speciation, pathogen movement, survival and establishment under the overarching topic of forest biosecurity.