Epidemiology of insect‐transmitted plant viruses: modelling disease dynamics and control interventions

Abstract

Abstract. Plant viruses are an important constraint to crop production world‐wide. Rarely have plant virologists, vector entomologists and crop specialists worked together in search of sustainable management practices for viral diseases. Historically, modelling approaches have been vector‐based dealing with empirical forecasting systems or simulation of vector population dynamics. More recently, epidemiological models, such as those used in human/animal epidemiology, have been introduced in an attempt to characterize and analyse the population ecology of viral diseases. The theoretical bases for these models and their use in evaluating control strategies in terms of the interactions between host, virus and vector are considered here. Vector activity and behaviour, especially in relation to virus transmission, are important determinants of the rate and extent of epidemic development. The applicability and flexibility of these models are illustrated by reference to specific case studies, including the increasing importance of whitefly‐transmitted viruses. Some outstanding research and methodological issues are considered.

Transmission of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ by Bactericera trigonica Hodkinson to vegetable hosts

“…The possibility that psyllids will sporadically probe on potato should not be excluded, particularly when potatoes are the only available crop or when the population of psyllids is large, and a whole field of infected carrot or celery is harvested, forcing the population to move to another plant species grown nearby. The rate of plant pathogen transmission and symptomatology are often correlated with vector density and pathogen infectivity (Jeger et al, 2004); therefore, B. trigonica could be an occasional vector to crops other than Apiaceae although unable to cause epidemics in a non-colonizable plant.…”

Estimation of the number of virus particles transmitted by an insect vector

“…Mathematical models are key tools here in allowing to describe the interplay between evolutionary and epidemiological processes acting on virus population both at the within-host and at the plant population scales (24,25). Such approaches are not classic in plant virus epidemiology, where models are most often focused on the spatiotemporal dynamics of epidemics at the field scale (24).…”

A Mathematical Model for the Vector Transmission and Control of Banana Xanthomonas Wilt

“…Such models have been developed by Fishman et al (1983), Fishman & Marcus (1984), Chan & Jeger (1994), Holt et al (1997), Holt et al(1999), Madden et al (2000), Gibson et al (2004), Jeger et al (2004), Tang et al (2010) , Zhonghua & Yaohong (2014), Nannyonga et al (2015) and Nakakawa et al(2016) among others. Holt et al (1999) formulated an epidemiological model for identifying control strategies for tomato leaf curl virus disease in Southern India.…”