Science Enabled by Specimen Data
Khalaf, S. M. H., M. S. M. Alqahtani, M. R. M. Ali, I. T. I. Abdelalim, and M. S. Hodhod. 2024. Using MaxEnt modeling to analyze climate change impacts on Pseudomonas syringae van Hall, 1904 distribution on the global scale. Heliyon 10: e41017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e41017
Pseudomonas syringae is a pathogenic bacterium that poses a significant threat to global agriculture, necessitating a deeper understanding of its ecological dynamics in the context of global warming. This study investigates the current and projected future distribution of P. syringae, focusing on the climatic factors that influence its spread. To achieve this, we employed Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) modeling based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyze species occurrence records alongside relevant climate data. The MaxEnt model was calibrated using 75 % of the occurrence data, with the remaining 25 % reserved for validation. The model's performance was meticulously assessed utilizing the area under the curve (AUC) and true skill statistics (TSS), resulting in an AUC score of 0.92, indicating excellent predictive capability. Our analysis identified key climatic parameters—temperature, precipitation, and humidity—that significantly affect the presence of P. syringae. Notably, our findings project an expansion of the bacterium's geographic range in the coming decades, with optimal conditions shifting toward the poles. This research underscores the significant influence of climate change on the distribution of P. syringae and provides valuable insights for developing targeted disease management strategies. The anticipated increase in bacterial infections in crops highlights the urgent need for proactive measures to mitigate these effects.
Silva-Valderrama, I., J.-R. Úrbez-Torres, and T. J. Davies. 2024. From host to host: The taxonomic and geographic expansion of Botryosphaeriaceae. Fungal Biology Reviews 48: 100352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fbr.2023.100352
Fungal pathogens are responsible for 30% of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) in plants. The risk of a pathogen emerging on a new host is strongly tied to its host breadth; however, the determinants of host range are still poorly understood. Here, we explore the factors that shape host breadth of plant pathogens within Botryosphaeriaceae, a fungal family associated with several devastating diseases in economically important crops. While most host plants are associated with just one or a few fungal species, some hosts appear to be susceptible to infection by multiple fungi. However, the variation in the number of fungal taxa recorded across hosts is not easily explained by heritable plant traits. Nevertheless, we reveal strong evolutionary conservatism in host breadth, with most fungi infecting closely related host plants, but with some notable exceptions that seem to have escaped phylogenetic constraints on host range. Recent anthropogenic movement of plants, including widespread planting of crops, has provided new opportunities for pathogen spillover. We suggest that constraints to pathogen distributions will likely be further disrupted by climate change, and we may see future emergence events in regions where hosts are present but current climate is unfavorable.
Schneider, K., D. Makowski, and W. van der Werf. 2021. Predicting hotspots for invasive species introduction in Europe. Environmental Research Letters 16: 114026. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac2f19
Plant pest invasions cost billions of Euros each year in Europe. Prediction of likely places of pest introduction could greatly help focus efforts on prevention and control and thus reduce societal costs of pest invasions. Here, we test whether generic data-driven risk maps of pest introduction, val…
Piepenbring, M., J. G. Maciá-Vicente, J. E. I. Codjia, C. Glatthorn, P. Kirk, Y. Meswaet, D. Minter, et al. 2020. Mapping mycological ignorance – checklists and diversity patterns of fungi known for West Africa. IMA Fungus 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43008-020-00034-y
Scientific information about biodiversity distribution is indispensable for nature conservation and sustainable management of natural resources. For several groups of animals and plants, such data are available, but for fungi, especially in tropical regions like West Africa, they are mostly missing.…