For an epidemic to occur in a closed population, the transmission rate must be above a threshold level. In plant populations, the threshold depends not only on host density, but on the distribution of hosts in space. This paper presents an alternative analysis of a previously presented stochastic model for an epidemic in continuous space (Bolker, 1999, Bull. Math. Biol. 61, 849-874). A variety ...

Genetic variation in plants can influence the community structure of associated species, through both direct and indirect interactions. Herbivorous insects are known to feed on a restricted range of plants, and herbivore preference and performance can vary among host plants within a species due to genetically based traits of the plant (e.g., defensive compounds). In a natural system, we expect ...

Plant viruses can profoundly alter the phenotypes of their host plants, with potentially far-reaching implications for ecology. Yet few studies have explored the indirect, host-mediated, effects of plant viruses on non-vector insects. We examined how infection of Cucurbita pepo plants by Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) impacted the susceptibility of aphids (Myzus persicae) to attack by the parasito...

Like animals, plants sense bacterial pathogens through surface-localized pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) and intracellular nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat proteins (NB-LRR) and trigger defense responses. Many plant-pathogenic bacteria secrete a large repertoire of effector proteins into host cells to modulate host responses, enabling successful infection and multiplication in plants...

Plant infestation, stem borer density, parasitism, and parasitoid abundance were assessed during two years in two host plants, Zea mays (L.) (Cyperales: Poaceae) and Sorghum bicolor (L.) (Cyperales: Poaceae), in cultivated habitats. The four major host plants (Cyperus spp., Panicum spp., Pennisetum spp., and Sorghum spp.) found in natural habitats were also assessed, and both the cultivated and...

The vast majority of plants obtain an important proportion of vital resources from soil through mycorrhizal fungi. Generally, this happens in exchange of photosynthetically fixed carbon, but occasionally the interaction is mycoheterotrophic, and plants obtain carbon from mycorrhizal fungi. This process results in an antagonistic interaction between mycoheterotrophic plants and their fungal host...