Needlecast and needle blight are terms applied to a variety of foliage disorders of many coniferous species. These diseases are usually more severe on young trees or on trees growing outside of their natural range.

Thousands of trees are struck by lightning every year. These trees will have varying degrees of damage ranging from complete shattering and destruction of the tree, to a slow lingering death, to virtually no apparent damage at all (Figure 1).

Sunflower is a unique model species for assessing crop responses and adaptation to climate change. We provide an initial assessment of how climate change may influence the abiotic and biotic environment of cultivated sunflower across the world.