Heather Dun
BSc, PhD
Heather Dun
BSc, PhDPathologist
Tree health
Forest Research, Northern Research Station, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9SY, UK
About Heather Dun
Heather completed her BSc (Hons) in Plant Science at the University of Edinburgh and a PhD at the University of Oxford in partnership with Forest Research. Her doctoral research examined the epidemiology of Phytophthora ramorum in larch, identifying environmental drivers of disease spread. She investigated the molecular response of European and Japanese larch to P. ramorum infection using RNA-seq analysis, identifying differences in key defence pathways. She also investigated the variation in resistance to P. ramorum in the Japanese larch population. Following her PhD she joined Forest Research in 2022 continuing to work on Phytophthora pathogens.
What Heather does
Heather leads the Harnessing natural resistance to enhance tree resilience project which investigates natural resistance in Japanese larch to Phytophthora ramorum and in juniper to Phytophthora austrocedri. She also runs the Canine Detection of Phytophthora Pathogens work package, developing sniffer dogs to detect Phytophthoras in plant health inspections.
Affiliations
- Member of British Society for Plant Pathology
- Member of the FR Technicians Commitment Steering Group
Other Publications
Green, S., Stanisz-Migal, M., Dun, H.F. et al. (2026). A New Epidemic of Woolly Adelgid-Associated Cucurbidothis spp. Is Damaging the Health of Scots Pine in Scotland. Plant Pathology 75, no. 3: e70201. https://doi.org/10.1111/ppa.70201.
Green, S., Taylor, J.E., Stanisz-Migal, M., Bonomo, S., Storey, N., Lee, V., Zawadski, S. & Dun, H.F. (2026). Understanding the drivers of emergence of Curreya pithyophila and associated impacts on Caledonian pine. Project Final Report. PHC2024/01. Scotland’s Centre of Expertise for Plant Health (PHC). DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18683199
MacLaren, A., Frederickson-Matika, D., Cock, P.J.A., Crisp, D., Dun, H., Pérez-Sierra, A., & Green, S. (2025). Enhanced Detection of Phytophthora Species at P. pluvialis Outbreak Sites in Commercial Forests Across Britain. Forests, 16(9), 1419; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16091419
Dun, H. F. & Jones, L. (2024) Phytophthora ramorum and Discrimination of non-target pathogens using detection dogs: Final Project Report.
FPPH DEFRA. Dun, H. F., MacKay, J. J., & Green, S. (2024). Expansion of natural infection of Japanese larch by Phytophthora ramorum shows trends associated with seasonality and climate. Plant Pathology, 73(2), 419–430. https://doi.org/10.1111/ppa.13821
Dun, H. F., Hung, T. H., Green, S., & MacKay, J. J. (2022). Comparative transcriptomic responses of European and Japanese larches to infection by Phytophthora ramorum. BMC Plant Biology, 22(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1186/S12870-022-03806-3
Dun, H. F., Clarke, T. K., Mackay, J. J., & Green, S. (2022). Exploring variation in susceptibility to Phytophthora ramorum in Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi). Forest Pathology, 52(4), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1111/efp.12759
Riddell, C. E., Dun, H. F., Elliot, M., Armstrong, A. C., Clark, M., Forster, J., Hedley, P. E., & Green, S. (2020). Detection and spread of Phytophthora austrocedri within infected Juniperus communis woodland and diversity of co-associated Phytophthoras as revealed by metabarcoding. Forest Pathology, e12602. https://doi.org/10.1111/efp.12602
Green, S., MacAskill, G. A., Dun, H. F., Armstrong, A. C., & Henricot, B. (2016). First report of Phytophthora austrocedri infecting Nootka cypress in Britain. New Disease Reports, 33(1), 21–21. https://doi.org/10.5197/j.2044-0588.2016.033.021