title: Mate Limitation in Fungal Plant Parasites Can Lead to Cyclic Epidemics in Perennial Host Populations.
abstract: Fungal plant parasites represent a growing concern for biodiversity and food security. Most ascomycete species are capable of producing different types of infectious spores both asexually and sexually. Yet the contributions of both types of spores to epidemiological dynamics have still to been fully researched. Here we studied the effect of mate limitation in parasites which perform both sexual and asexual reproduction in the same host. Since mate limitation implies positive density dependence at low population density, we modeled the dynamics of such species with both density-dependent (sexual) and density-independent (asexual) transmission rates. A first simple SIR model incorporating these two types of transmission from the infected compartment, suggested that combining sexual and asexual spore production can generate persistently cyclic epidemics in a significant part of the parameter space. It was then confirmed that cyclic persistence could occur in realistic situations by parameterizing a more detailed model fitting the biology of the Black Sigatoka disease of banana, for which literature data are available. We discuss the implications of these results for research on and management of Sigatoka diseases of banana.
authors.affiliation: UMR BGPI, CIRAD, 34398, Montpellier, France. virginie.ravigne@cirad.fr.|UMR PVBMT, CIRAD, 97410, Saint Pierre, Réunion, France. virginie.ravigne@cirad.fr.
authors.forename: Virginie
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4252-2574
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ravigné
authors.affiliation: Collège Carnot, 06130, Grasse, France.
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lemesle
authors.affiliation: IGEPP, Agrocampus Ouest, INRA, Université de Rennes 1, Université Bretagne-Loire, 35000, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.affiliation: INRA, CNRS, ISA, Université Côte d'Azur, 06903, Sophia Antipolis, France.|Inria, INRA, CNRS, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Université Côte d'Azur, 06902, Sophia Antipolis, France.
authors.forename: Ludovic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mailleret
authors.affiliation: IGEPP, Agrocampus Ouest, INRA, Université de Rennes 1, Université Bretagne-Loire, 35000, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Frédéric M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Hamelin
mesh_terms: D001203:Ascomycota / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology; D005658:Fungi / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D055641:Mathematical Concepts; D008954:Models, Biological; D028521:Musa / Q000382:microbiology; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D010944:Plants / Q000382:microbiology; D012098:Reproduction; D012100:Reproduction, Asexual; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000472:pathogenicity
keywords: Allee effect; Asexual reproduction; Competitive exclusion; Epidemiology; Fungi; Limit cycle; Mixed mating system; Nonlinear transmission; Sexual reproduction