Sydney Everhart

Sydney Everhart

Associate Professor (Adjunct), University of Connecticut
  • Quantitative Ecologist, 80% Research / 20% Teaching
  • Ph.D. Plant Pathology, University of Georgia, 2012
  • M.S. Biology (Ecology), University of Central Missouri, 2007
  • B.S. Biology, University of Iowa, 2005

How and why do disease outbreaks occur?  This question is the basis of my research interests, which utilize molecular genetic and genomic tools to investigate the epidemiology of fungal plant pathogens. Current work in my lab involves characterization of spatiotemporal population dynamics of soilborne pathogens and investigating the role of stress in pathogen evolution.  Visit my lab website for more information.

Background:  My background is in quantitative epidemiology and population genetics / genomics. My Ph.D. work utilized a 3-dimensional approach to characterize the spatial pattern of brown rot disease epidemics within peach tree canopies and developed molecular tools to examine the corresponding pathogen population. As a USDA-AFRI-NIFA postdoctoral fellow at Oregon State University, I utilized whole-genome sequencing and Genotyping-by-Sequencing to examine population variation in Phytophthora ramorum, causal agent of Sudden Oak Death. 

Current position:  I joined the Department of Plant Pathology at UNL in the fall of 2014 in the position of Quantitative Ecologist, with a 9 month appointment of 80% research and 20% teaching.  I am lead instructor of PLPT 802 Ecology and Management of Plant Pathogens that is taught every spring semester. I also teach a course called Success in the Sciences for new graduate students that was first taught in the summer of 2018 and every fall thereafter.  Visit my lab website for more information.

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Peer-Reviewed Publications:

Click here to download via UNL Digital Commons.

  1. Bogo, A., C.C. Comparin, R.M. Valdebenito Sanhueza, P. Ritschel, R.T. Casa, F.N. Silva, S.E. Everhart. 2018. Characterization of Neofabraea actinidiae and N. brasiliensis as causal agents of apple bull’s-eye rot in southern Brazil. Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology https://doi.org/10.1080/07060661.2017.1421588
  2. Kamvar, Z.N., B.S. Amaradasa, R. Jhala, S. McCoy, J.R. Steadman, S.E. Everhart. 2017. Population structure and phenotypic variation of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum from dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) in the United States. PeerJ 5:e4152 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4152
  3. Grunwald, N.J., S.E. Everhart, B.J. Knaus, and Z.N. Kamvar. 2017. Best practices for population genetic analyses. Phytopathology 107:1000-1010. doi: 10.1094/PHYTO-12-16-0425-RVW
  4. Dowling, M., G. Schnabel, H. Boatwright, and S.E. Everhart**. 2017. Novel gene-sequence markers for isolate tracking within Monilinia fructicola lesions. Pest Management Science doi: 10.1002/ps.4544
  5. Mirorini, T.J.J., C.G. Raetano, and S.E. Everhart**. 2017. Control of white mold of dry bean and residual activity of fungicides applied by chemigation. Crop Protection 94:192-202.
  6. Amaradasa, B.S., and S.E. Everhart**. 2016. Effects of sublethal fungicides on mutation rates and genomic variation in fungal plant pathogen, Sclerotinia sclerotiorumPLoS ONE. 11 (12): e0168079. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0168079.
  7. Dowling, M., G. Schnabel, H. Boatwright, and S.E. Everhart**. 2016. Novel gene-sequence markers for isolate tracking within Monilinia fructicola lesions. Pest Management Science 73:1822-1829 doi: 10.1002/ps.4544
  8. Dugan, F.M., and S.E. Everhart. 2016. Cryptic species: A leitmotif of contemporary mycology has challenges and benefits for plant pathologists. Plant Health Progress. DOI:10.1094/PHP-RV-16-0046
  9. de Bem, B.P., A. Bogo, S.E. Everhart, R.T. Casa, M.J. Goncalves, J.L. Marcon, L.R. Rufato, F.N. Silva, R. Allebrandt, I.C. da Cunha. 2016. Effect of four training systems on the temporal dynamics of downy mildew in two grapevine cultivars in southern Brazil. Topical Plant Pathology. DOI 10.1007/s40858-016-0110-8.
  10. Tabima J.F., S.E. Everhart, M.M. Larsen, A.J. Weisberg, Z.N. Kamvar, M.A. Tancos, C.D. Smart, J.H. Chang, and N.J. Grünwald. 2016. Microbe-ID: An open source toolbox for microbial genotyping and species identification. PeerJ 4:e2279 DOI 10.7717/peerj.2279
  11. Dowling, M., P.K. Bryson, H. Boatwright, J.R. Wilson, Z. Fan, G. Schnabel, S.E. Everhart, and P. Brannen. 2016. Effect of fungicide application on Monilinia fructicola population diversity and transposon movement. Phytopathology 103:1504-1512. DOI:10.1094/PHYTO-03-16-0127-R
  12. Everhart, S.E., B.S. Amaradasa, R. Jhala, R. Higgins, and J.R. Steadman. 2016. Population structure and fungicide sensitivity of 366 Sclerotinia sclerotiorum isolates from dry common bean. Bean Improvement Cooperative 59:131-132.
  13. Chen, F., S.E. Everhart*, P.K. Bryson, C.L., X. Song, X.L., G. Schnabel. 2015. Fungicide induced transposon movement in Monilinia fructicola. Fungal Genetics and Biology 85:38-44.
  14. Everhart, S.E., and H. Scherm. 2015. Clonal disease foci of Monilinia fructicola during brown rot epidemics within peach tree canopies. Phytopathology 105:542-549.
  15. de Bem, B.P., Bogo, A., S. Everhart, R.T. Casa, M.J. Goncalves, J.L.M. Filho, and I.C. da Cunha. 2015. Effect of Y-trellis and vertical shoot positioning training systems on downy mildew and botrytis bunch rot of grape in highlands of southern Brazil. Scientia Horticulturae 185:162-166.
  16. Schnabel, G., F. Chen, S.E. Everhart, W.C. Bridges and X.L. Liu. 2014. Studies on sensitivity reduction in solo and mixture treatments and fungicide-induced mutagenesis in Monilinia fructicola. In: H.W. Dehne, H.B. Deising, U. Gisi, B. Fraaije, U. Gisi, D. Hermann, A. Mehl, E.C. Oerke, P.E. Russel, G. Stammler, K.H. Kuck, H. Lyr (Eds). “Modern Fungicides and Antifungal Compounds”, Vol. VII, pp 263-268. 2014 Deutsche Phytomedizinische Gesellschaft, Braunschweig, ISBN: 978-3-941261-13-6.
  17. Everhart, S.E., A. Askew, L. Seymour, and H. Scherm. 2013. Spatio-temporal patterns of pre-harvest brown rot epidemics within individual peach tree canopies. European Journal of Plant Pathology 135: 499–509.
  18. Everhart, S.E., A. Askew, L. Seymour, T.C. Glenn, and H. Scherm. 2012. Spatial patterns of brown rot epidemics and development of microsatellite markers for analyzing fine-scale genetic structure of Monilinia fructicola populations within peach tree canopies. Online. Plant Health Progress doi:10.1094/PHP-2012-0723-04-RS.
  19. Everhart, S.E., A. Askew, L. Seymour, I.J. Holb, and H. Scherm. 2011. Characterization of three-dimensional spatial aggregation and association patterns of brown rot symptoms within intensively mapped sour cherry trees. Annals of Botany 108: 1195–1202.
  20. Everhart, S.E.** 2010. Collection and identification of grapevines (Vitis) from the tree canopy of select forests in the southeastern United States. Castanea 75: 141–149.
  21. Keller, H.W., and S.E. Everhart 2010. Importance of Myxomycetes in biological research and teaching. Fungi 3(1): 13–27.
  22. Everhart, S.E., J.S. Ely, and H.W. Keller. 2009. Evaluation of tree canopy epiphytes and bark characteristics associated with corticolous myxomycetes. Botany 87: 509–517.
  23. Keller, H.W., S.E. Everhart, M. Skrabal, and C.M. Kilgore. 2009. Tree canopy biodiversity in temperate forests: Exploring islands in the sky. Southeastern Biology 56: 52–74.
  24. Everhart, S.E., and H.W. Keller. 2008. Influence of bark pH on the occurrence and distribution of tree canopy myxomycete species. Mycologia 100: 191–204.
  25. Everhart, S.E., and H.W. Keller. 2008. Life history strategies of corticolous myxomycetes: The life cycle, fruiting bodies, plasmodial types, and taxonomic orders.  Fungal Diversity 29: 1–16.
  26. Keller, H.W., C.M. Kilgore, S.E. Everhart, G. Carmack, C. Crabtree, and A. Scarborough. 2008. Myxomycete plasmodia and fruiting bodies: Unusual occurrences and user friendly study techniques. Fungi 1: 24–37.
  27. Keller, H.W., and S.E. Everhart 2008. Myxomycete species concepts, monotypic genera, the fossil record, and additional examples for good taxonomic practice. Revista Mexicana de Micologia 27: 9–19.
  28. Kilgore, C.M., H.W. Keller, S.E. Everhart, A. Scarborough, K. Snell, M. Skrabal, C. Pottorff, and J.S. Ely. 2008. Tree canopy research and student experiences using the double rope climbing method. Journal of Botanical Research Institute of Texas 2: 1309–1336.

 

Books, Chapters, and R packages:

  1. Keller, H.W., S.E. Everhart, and C.M. Kilgore. 201X. The Myxomycetes: Biology, life cycle, genetics and reproduction. In: Stephenson, S. and C. Lado (eds) “Myxomycetes: Biology, Systematics, Biogeography and Ecology”, Elsevier, Atlanta, GA. In review.
  2. Kamvar, Z.N., Tabima, J.F., Everhart, S.E., Brooks, J.C., Krueger-Hadfield, S.A., Sotka, E. and Grunwald, N.J., 2016. Package ‘poppr’. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/poppr/index.html
  3. Grunwald, N.J., Z.N. Kamvar, and S.E. Everhart. 2015. Population Genetics in R. Online book: http://grunwaldlab.github.io/Population_Genetics_in_R/
  4. Everhart, S.E., T.F. Tabima, and N.J. Grünwald. 2014. Phytophthora ramorum. In: Dean, R.A., A. Lichens-Park, and C. Kole (eds) “Genomics of Plant Associated Fungi and Oomycetes”, Springer, New York, NY. Pp. 159-174.

 *Co-first author; **Corresponding author    

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1/8/2018 - page last updated.