Pr Benoît MARÇAIS

Plant pathologist, INRA
Nancy - France

Professor Benoît MARÇAIS is Director of Research at the Institut
National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA).
After studying agronomy at the Institut National Agronomique de Paris-Grignon (INA-PG), graduating with a DEA in Phytopathology, he completed a thesis at INRA Bordeaux on the Influence of environmental factors on the development of Encre du chêne rouge (Quercus rubra L.), a disease caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi (thesis defended at the Université de Nancy 2 in 1992). He was then recruited by INRA Nancy's Forest Pathology Unit to work on the involvement of root rot in oak decline (Collybia fusipes, Armillaria gallica). In this context, he spent a year at the USDA-FS in Hamden, Connecticut (USA). In the early 2000s, he turned his attention to studying the impact of climate change on the emergence of forest pathogens (P. cinnamomi, P. 'alni, Diplodia pinea, Dothistroma spp.). Over the last ten years, his work has focused on studying the impact and dispersal patterns of invasive forest pests, in particular ash blight (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) and oomycetes of the Phytophthora genus (P. 'alni and P. ramorum).