Abstract
A long-term study (19years) of a host-pathogen metapopulation involving 133-220 separate populations of the wild plant Filipendula ulmaria and its rust pathogen Triphragmium ulmariae shows marked changes in the occurrence (32-55% demes) and severity of disease and rates of extinction and re-establishment of individual populations (0.006-0.174 and 0.030-0.195 per annum, respectively) over time. Modelling of the spatio-temporal dynamics of disease demonstrated year-to-year changes associated with a range of different environmental features, but also more consistent, longer-term patterns influenced by a complex suite of factors. Both the level of disease and its spatial location varied through time and generated a changing pattern of selective pressure across the metapopulation. Synthesis. Our results suggest that co-evolutionary hot spots and cold spots can be highly dynamic within metapopulations, thereby fuelling the co-evolutionary process even more than previously suspected.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 634-641 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of Ecology |
Volume | 99 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2011 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Co-evolution
- Disease
- Epidemiology
- Longitudinal study
- Metapopulation
- Plant-pathogen
- Spatial pattern
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Ecology
- Plant Science