Plants, as the base for ecological food chains, serve as the structural and functional foundation of natural and managed systems. The study of plant science and biotechnology provides opportunity in a broad range of specialties fundamental to the understanding of plants and their interaction with other organisms and for specializing in plant biotechnology. Emphasis is on forests and related plant systems. Current research interests include dynamics of plant communities as affected by humans and the environment, mechanisms of plant succession, epidemiology of forest and urban tree diseases, taxonomy, physiology, growth and ultrastructure of fungi, heritability of wood properties and disease resistance of trees, biochemistry and physiology of plant stress response, photosynthesis, mycorrhizae, plant reproductive biology, genetic engineering, transformation, molecular evolution, phylogenetics, taxonomy, plant-pathogen interactions, tissue culture and study of ancient DNA.