Integrating GPS, GIS and Remote Sensing Technologies with Disease Management Principles to Improve Plant Health

Impact of Eradication Programs on the Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of Plum pox virus on Prunus spp. in Pennsylvania and Ontario, Canada

“…Gottwald et al (15) determined that the previous policy of removing all citrus trees within 38.1 in of each canker-infected citrus tree was insufficient to reduce canker spread; instead, the eradication zone around each newly detected citrus canker tree should be much larger (>579 m). Science-based geospatial information might also be used to define quarantined areas that require more intensive (targeted) sam pling (37). Even when switching to a management-based containment strategy, these distance-based analyses could still be used to establish the size and geographic boundaries of quarantine zones that may be required for regulatory purposes.…”

“…Ripley's K function was used to characterize the spatial patterns of PPV-positive Prunus blocks (13,42). If the observed K(d) for a given distance is greater than the simulated K(r/) for that distance, then the marked points are considered spatially dependent (clustered) at that distance (13,37). whereas, in Ontario, an orchard block is defined as the planting of a single cultivar of a given Prunus sp.…”

“…Exclusion and eradication are two key management principles that most often come into play when a nonindigenous pathogen poses a new threat to an agricultural industry (37,38). In order to be effec tive, exclusion requires science-based information about where the pathogen occurs.…”

Assessing crop health and its link to fungal soil microbiome composition through remote sensing

“…However, the link between NDVI (or other VIs) and the soil microbial fungal composition is only sparsely covered in the literature. In the work of Nutter 35 , NDVI was applied to find the epicenters of soy-bean rust disease caused by the Phakopsora pachyrhizi fungi. Another study links higher NDVI values with a larger species richness which had a larger proportion of Onygenales 36 .…”