Ecological and evolutionary implications of spatial heterogeneity during the off-season for a wild plant pathogen.

ABSTRACT: While recent studies have elucidated many of the factors driving parasite dynamics during the growing season, the ecological and evolutionary dynamics during the off-season (i.e. the period between growing seasons) remain largely unexplored. We combined large-scale surveys and detailed experiments to investigate the overwintering success of the specialist plant pathogen Podosphaera plantaginis on its patchily distributed host plant Plantago lanceolata in the Åland Islands. Twelve years of epidemiological data establish the off-season as a crucial stage in pathogen metapopulation dynamics, with c. 40% of the populations going extinct during the off-season. At the end of the growing season, we observed environmentally mediated variation in the production of resting structures, with major con

SUBMITTER: Tack AJM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4285854 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature