Characterization of three-dimensional spatial aggregation and association patterns of brown rot symptoms within intensively mapped sour cherry trees

摘要

Background and AimsCharacterization of spatial patterns of plant disease can provide insights into important epidemiological processes such as sources of inoculum, mechanisms of dissemination, and reproductive strategies of the pathogen population. Whilst two-dimensional patterns of disease (among plants within fields) have been studied extensively, there is limited information on three-dimensional patterns within individual plant canopies. Reported here are the detailed mapping of different symptom types of brown rot (caused by Monilinia laxa) in individual sour cherry tree (Prunus cerasus) canopies, and the application of spatial statistics to the resulting data points to determine patterns of symptom aggregation and association.