Temporal niche differentiation of parasites sharing the same plant host: oak powdery mildew as a case study

Ecosphere

Frédéric M. Hamelin¹  Anne Bisson²  Frédéric Fabre³  Marie‐Laure Desprez‐Loustau⁴  Ludovic Mailleret⁵ 

[1] IGEPP, Agrocampus Ouest, INRA Université de Rennes 1 Université Bretagne‐Loire 65 rue de Saint Brieuc 35000 Rennes France;INRA UMR 0729 MISTEA 2 Place Pierre Viala 34060 Montpellier France;INRA UMR 1065 SAVE 71, Avenue Edouard Bourlaux 33882 Villenave d'Ornon France;INRA UMR 1202 BIOGECO 69 Route d'Arcachon 33612 Cestas France;Université Côte d'Azur INRA, CNRS, ISA 400 route des chappes Sophia Antipolis France;

关键词: coexistence;    epidemiology;    pathogen;    seasonality;    semidiscrete model;    trade‐off;   

DOI  :  10.1002/ecs2.1517

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Plant diseases are often caused by complexes of closely related parasite species. The coexistence of species sharing the same niche challenges the competitive exclusion principle. Here, we performed the mathematical analysis of a generic model of sibling parasite species coexistence based on seasonality. We showed that coexistence through temporal niche partitioning is biologically plausible as it occurred in a significant part of the parameter space of the model. Moreover, the reversal of species relative frequencies (i.e., the most frequent species at the beginning of the season becoming the last frequent at the end) can occur without compromising the long‐term coexistence of the two species. We provided data showing that this reversal pattern does repeat over years in the case of two sibling species responsible for oak powdery mildew (Erysiphe alphitoides and Erysiphe quercicola) in Europe. Last, the model was fitted to the data and satisfactorily described the population dynamics of oak powdery mildew species. The seasonal succession of these two plant pathogen species provides one of the few examples of coexistence by temporal niche partitioning at the scale of the season caused by exploitative competition. We discuss whether evolutionary branching may have led to temporal niche differentiation in this system.

【 授权许可】

Unknown