Xylella Studies

Xylella fastidiosa is a vector-transmitted bacterial plant pathogen associated with serious diseases in a wide range of plants. It causes Pierce’s disease in grapevine, which is a major problem for wine producers in the United States and South America. X. fastidiosa was detected on olive trees in Puglia, southern Italy, in October 2013, the first time the bacterium was reported in the European Union. Since then it has also been reported as present in France, Spain and Portugal and Brazil. By 2015, the disease had infected up to a million olive trees in Apulia. Numerous species of xylem sap-sucking insects are known to be vectors of the bacterium. X. fastidiosa also has a broad range of host plants, including many common cultivated and wild plants.

In 2021, Burtynsky was commissioned by Fondazione Sylva (Lecce district) to document the deteriorating state of the olive groves in Apulia.