The Department of Plant Pathology at the University of California at Berkeley was destroyed as a consequence of a contentious reorganization. The circumstances that led to the reorganization provide some insight into the challenges facing the discipline of plant pathology. The underlying basis for plant pathology as a science is to address problems of plant disease. This requires a balance between disciplinary and problem-solving research and a continuum from achieving fundamental advances in knowledge to the development and implementation of problem-solving approaches. Changes in colleges and universities have placed extreme stress on this essential structure. The dilemma that must be addressed is how to reestablish the problem-solving continuum where it has been broken and strengthen it where it has been weakened. Plants are essential for life, and they will always be affected by disease. The understanding and management of these diseases is the responsibility and the challenge of plant pathology today and in the future.

中文翻译：

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植物病理学：处于十字路口的学科。

由于有争议的重组，加州大学伯克利分校的植物病理学系被摧毁。导致重组的环境为植物病理学面临的挑战提供了一些见识。植物病理学作为一门科学的基础是解决植物疾病的问题。这要求在学科研究和解决问题的研究之间取得平衡，并且需要从知识的根本进步到解决问题方法的开发和实施的连续性。高校的变化给这种基本结构带来了极大的压力。必须解决的难题是如何在已被破坏的地方重新建立解决问题的连续性，并在已被削弱的地方增强解决问题的连续性。植物是生命必不可少的 他们将永远受到疾病的影响。对这些疾病的理解和管理是当今和未来植物病理学的责任和挑战。