10.5061/DRYAD.2NGF1VHJQ
Numminen, Elina
0000-0002-5956-1094
University of Helsinki
Laine, Anna-Liisa
Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University
of Zurich
The spread of a wild plant pathogen is driven by the road network
Dryad
dataset
2020
Roads
host–pathogen interactions
Academy of Finland
https://ror.org/05k73zm37
284601
Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation
https://ror.org/03vxy9y38
European Research Council
https://ror.org/0472cxd90
Pathevol 281517
European Research Council
https://ror.org/0472cxd90
Resistance 724508
2020-03-02T00:00:00Z
2020-03-02T00:00:00Z
en
https://github.com/ComputerBlue/FungalSex
258443729 bytes
3
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Spatial analyses of pathogen occurrence in their natural surroundings
entail unique opportunities for assessing in vivo drivers of disease
epidemiology. Such studies are however confronted by the complexity of the
landscape driving epidemic spread and disease persistence. Since relevant
information on how the landscape influences epidemiological dynamics is
rarely available, simple spatial models of spread are often used. In the
current study we demonstrate both how more complex transmission pathways
could be incorpoted to epidemiological analyses and how this can offer
novel insights into understanding disease spread across the landscape. Our
study is focused on Podosphaera plantaginis, a powdery mildew pathogen
that transmits from one host plant to another by wind-dispersed spores.
Its host populations often reside next to roads and thus we hypothesize
that the road network influences the epidemiology of P. plantaginis. To
analyse the impact of roads on the transmission dynamics, we consider a
spatial dataset on the presence-absence records on the pathogen collected
from a fragmented landscape of host populations. Using both mechanistic
transmission modeling and statistical modeling with road-network summary
statistics as predictors, we conclude the evident role of the road network
in the progression of the epidemics: a phenomena which is manifested both
in the enhanced transmission along the roads and in infections typically
occurring at the central hub locations of the road network. We also
demonstrate how the road network affects the spread of the pathogen using
simulations. Jointly our results highlight how human alteration of natural
landscapes may increase disease spread.
Data has been collected with repeated presence-absence surveys in the
pathosystem.