Sudden Oak Death Found on UC Campus

Sudden oak death syndrome, a pathogen that has devastated wide swaths of California's oak trees, has been discovered on the UC Berkeley campus, officials said.

The microbe has infected three host species but has not been detected in any of the trees on campus, suggesting that the disease has only recently arrived.

About 50 groundskeepers, gardeners, arborists and horticulturists from the university's Botanical Garden are being trained to identify the infection. Over the next two weeks, they will canvass the campus and gather samples of suspicious vegetation.