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SUMMARY:Challenging existing paradigms of pathogen dispersal - James Cox
DTSTART:20110527T123000Z
DTEND:20110527T130000Z
UID:TALK30691@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Suzy Stoodley
DESCRIPTION:Plant diseases cause significant loss of valuable food crops t
 hroughout the world and are\, in part\, responsible for the suffering of 8
 00 million who lack adequate food. Mathematical models of plant diseases c
 an be used to assess the risk of pathogen introduction into new regions\; 
 guide disease detection efforts in the field with limited resources\; and 
 inform the design of optimal disease control strategies. \nWind borne disp
 ersal of pathogen inoculum is fundamental to the progress of many importan
 t plant diseases\, such as wheat rust\, citrus canker and sudden oak death
 . However\, the physical transport of inoculum is either ignored in predic
 tive models or included in an overly simplistic way involving the use of s
 tatic\, isotropic dispersal kernels. \nThe aim of this work is two-fold:\n
 \n(i)	To challenge the current usage of overly-simplistic dispersal in pre
 dictive plant disease models by exposing the sensitivity of epidemic dynam
 ics to the underlying pathogen dispersal mechanism. \n\n(ii)	To develop an
  improved paradigm of plant pathogen dispersal through the integration of 
 sophisticated atmospheric dispersion models with a metapopulation epidemic
  model.\n\nIn this talk I will (a) present results from atmospheric disper
 sion simulations that demonstrate anisotropy and time-dependence of pathog
 en dispersal and (b) present metapopulation epidemic simulation results th
 at quantify the link between dispersal mechanisms and epidemic dynamics.\n
LOCATION:Department of Plant Sciences\, Large Lecture Theatre
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