The dynamics of an interaction between Digitaria sanguinalis and Ustilago syntherismae at local scale is strongly influenced by environment and spatial distribution

Abstract

A wild loose smut–summer annual grass interaction was studied to explore the relative importance of some local spatiotemporal patterns of variation for its existence. The prevalence‐related variable measured was the proportion of diseased plants (PDP). The mean annual PDP of nine consecutive seasons (2009–2017) was analysed using a generalized linear model with a binomial distribution considering covariables related to rainfall. During the seasons 2013–2015, the precise location of each sample within the plot was taken into account. The PDP of these seasons was analysed in various ways by means of generalized linear models, searching for its spatial variation with plant density in a given season, and with sorus and seeded inflorescence densities of the previous season. Symptomless plants were estimated as 6.1% of the 2015 population. The mean annual PDP ranged from 0.08 to 0.42 and covaried positively with precipitation. Within the field, two zones could be repeatedly delimited among seasons: one in which high plant densities and high PDP co‐occurred, and another with lower values of both in which PDP depended on the sorus density. The role played by differences in the encounter rate within and among seasons is discussed; lack of encounter could be as necessary as encounter for plant–pathogen coexistence over time.