Rodrigo Almeida*
*University of California, Berkeley, 140 Mulford Hall, ESPM/RCNR/UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720 (rodrigoalmeida@berkeley.edu)

Pierce’s disease (PD) of grapevines continues to be a serious disease in California and elsewhere. Temperature is known to impact PD prevalence and geographical distribution, notably at the northern edge of the PD distribution in California, where winter temperatures are considered too low for infections to survive. Infected vines are subject to winter curing if temperatures are low enough, a phenomenon that effectively clears plants from pathogen infections. However, recent research has demonstrated that winter curing is dependent on plant variety and pathogen strain, in addition to temperature alone. This work will be discussed in the context of climate change and the finding of new areas where PD was previously rare or not reported.

Funding Support: CDFA PD/GWSS Research Program