In the news

Items from news media involving interviews with Richard Buggs

25/04/24 BBC Radio 4 Farming Today Interview on ash species DNA barcodes

23/04/24 ITV Meridian Oscar winning actress Cate Blanchett lends her support to the botanical gardens in Sussex

17/04/24 BBC News website Hybrid trees give hope in push to revive elm species

16/04/24 BBC Radio Sussex. Live interview with Danny Pike on elm trees.

14/04/24 The Observer The disease-busting hybrids that could bring back the majestic English elm

08/03/24 BBC News Website Ash dieback disease costing councils in the South millions

08/03/24 BBC South Today Evening News. Interview on ash dieback research.

14/07/23 ITV Meridian Breakthrough in Ash Dieback research could provide answers to UK’s biggest tree disease

25/12/22 CGTN Europe interview on ash dieback

12/09/22 Broadleaf Magazine (Woodland Trust)

02/08/22 Interview on BBC Radio 5 Live

28/03/22 WIRED A Bold Idea to Stall the Climate Crisis—by Building Better Trees

7/11/21 BBC Countryfile Interview with Tom Heap on genetic solutions to tree pests and pathogens

9/10/21 The Economist Treedemic: Britain’s trees are being felled by diseases

27/01/21 The Times Origin of the quarrel between Charles Darwin and ‘odious’ rival

23/01/21 BBC News website New light shed on Charles Darwin’s ‘abominable mystery’

2/10/20 Six O’Clock News on BBC Radio 4. Interview on ash dieback

2/10/20 One O’Clock TV News on BBC One. Interview on ash dieback.

27/9/20 The Atlantic The plant pandemics just keep on coming – how the world’s trees got so sick

21/9/20 Knowable Magazine. The accidental tree killers. I was interviewed for this article by Stephanie Pain.

19/8/20 PM on BBC Radio 4. Interview on oak and ash tree health.

19/8/20 The Times Acute oak decline: Scientists hope to fell mystery killer

26/5/20 The Independent Threat to billions of ash trees by deadly beetle could be thwarted as scientists identify protective genes

26/5/20 Earth.com News Resistance genes could save billions of ash trees from beetles

19/11/19 The Independent Ash dieback: Genetic resistance offers new hope over ‘unstoppable’ disease expected to kill 70 per cent of species

18/11/19 BBC News at Six interview on ash dieback with Rebecca Morelle

18/11/19 BBC Radio 4 PM programme. Interview with Evan Davis.

18/11/19 BBC World Service Outside source interview with Nuala McGovern

18/11/19 The TimesDNA offers hope of beating ash dieback disease

18/11/19 BBC News Website “New hope for trees affected by ash dieback

Spring 2019 BBC Wildlife MagazineConservation Report: European common ash“. Interview with Stuart Blackman.

05/12/18 BBC News Website “Ash dieback: Ash woodlands ‘may flourish once again’

30/09/18 BBC One London News interview on ash dieback with Jim Wheble https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWWEBdMx2eM

12/09/18 BBC World News Talking Business with Aaron Heslehurst

3/1/18 Babbage Podcast (The Economist) interview on tree health

14/6/17 The Naked Scientists Can Genes Save our Trees?

18/5/17 BBC World TV News Today live studio interview with presenter Philippa Thomas on State of the World’s Plants

18/5/17 BBC Radio Africa studio interview on State of the World’s Plants

18/5/17 BBC Radio London live studio interview with presenter Vanessa Feltz on State of the World’s Plants

12/4/17 Babbage Podcast (The Economist) interview on ash tree health

13/3/2017 BBC Radio 4 Farming Today Recorded interview

26/12/16 BBC website Ash tree genome sequenced for first time

26/12/16 BBC Radio 4 Six O’Clock news Recorded interview

26/12/16 Financial Times Genes may save British ash trees from destruction

26/12/16 Guardian British ash trees may resist dieback disease, research reveals

26/12/16 Daily Mail Trees resistant to killer fungus could be grown in Britain

UK scientists have decoded the genome of the ash in the fight against a devastating plant disease.

26/12/16 Daily Express Ash trees could be saved from killer disease after UK study cracks genetic code

ASH trees could be saved from a killer disease after a British study cracked their genetic code.

03/11/15 The Guardian Ash trees under threat if harmful borer beetle finds way to Britain

Asian emerald ash borer, given the maximum risk rating to the tree species, is ‘moving uncontrolled’ through Russia having established itself in US and Canada

02/11/15 The Times GM trees to combat ash dieback

Britain’s largest genetically modified planting programme could prevent ash trees being wiped out. Scientists have advocated the use of GM trees to tackle the fungus that causes ash dieback. Teams…

01/11/15 The Daily Telegraph Ash trees could be genetically modified to resist dieback disease

Scientists are sequencing the genomes of different ash species in an effort to identify the genes that make some varieties resistant to the disease

01/11/15 The Observer With 90% of the UK’s ash trees about to be wiped out, could GM be the answer?

Scientists have proposed a radical solution to help trees develop resistance to ash dieback. But critics fear there could be unpredictable effects

31/01/15 The Sunday Telegraph British woods in crisis as ash disease triples

Number of British woods suffering from ash dieback has almost tripled in two years

07/10/14 BBC TV News Channel Interview on ash dieback

22/06/14 The Conversation Despite the lush summer leaves, our trees are under attack

Looking at the countryside now in the middle of summer, it is hard to believe that trees are under threat from an array of diseases and pests. Warm and wet conditions with plenty of sunshine have led to…

07/06/14 The Sunday Telegraph Ash dieback is now ‘unstoppable’, ecologists warn

Experts say Britain’s ash trees are ‘doomed’ and their demise threatens hundreds of insects, mosses, lichens and birds

07/06/14 Cheltenham Science Festival, Panel discussion What’s killing our trees?

15/05/14 France24 television report Talking Europe

01/12/13 Sunday Times GM trees may save our woods

SCIENTISTS have suggested that planting millions of genetically modified trees could become the only way to save Britain’s parks and woodlands from the onslaught of exotic diseases. They have…

01/10/13 Planet Earth Podcast Using genetics to fight ash dieback

27/09/13 BBC Radio 4 Ashes to Ashes

Are ash trees coping with the spread of ash dieback in Britain? Adam Hart investigates.

26/09/13 BBC News Website Ash trees also face insect threat

Ash trees in the UK already threatened by a fungus could experience a double whammy with the arrival of an insect pest from the east.

23/09/13 BBC News Website Scientists map UK ash tree genome

Scientists have mapped the genome of the native ash tree, in research to find a way to protect woodlands from a deadly fungus.

12/6/13 BBC1 TV News at One, BBC1 TV News at Six Interview on ash dieback

A year since it was first discovered in the wider environment and ancient woodland, the impact of the disease is starting to become evident.

Summer 2013, Planet Earth The last stand?

5/2/13 Planet Earth Podcast Genetic progress in saving ash trees

21/12/12 Today programme, BBC Radio 4 Interview on ash dieback

21/12/12 Good Morning Scotland, BBC Scotland Interview on ash dieback

21/12/12 Laurence Reed Show, BBC Cornwall Interview on ash dieback

21/12/12 Planet Earth Online New genetics project could help save the ash tree

9/12/12 Sunday Telegraph British woodlands need diversity from around the world

Foreign tree species are needed to help preserve Britain’s woodlands from disease, argues Dr Richard Buggs.

24/11/12 Sunday Times Scientists step in to save birch

SCIENTISTS have sequenced the genome of the British birch tree for the first time in a step that could help guard against another ash dieback-style disaster. Researchers at Queen Mary, University…

20/11/12 BBC News Website Forres-based charity’s effort to protect ‘wee trees’

A “forgotten forest” of small tree species require conservation efforts similar to those needed to protect tall trees, a charity says.

11/11/12 BBC News Website DNA tests for rare birch trees from Caucasus Mountains

The DNA of endangered trees from the Caucasus Mountains will be analysed by a botanist in a bid to find out more about their evolution.