A synoptic review of plant disease epidemics and outbreaks published in 2022
File(s)
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This scientometric study reviews the scientific literature and CABI distribution records published in 2022 to find evidence of major disease outbreaks and first reports of pathogens in new locations or on new hosts. This is the second time we have done this, and this study builds on our work documenting and analyzing reports from 2021. Pathogens with three or more articles identified in 2022 literature were Xylella fastidiosa, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, Meloidogyne species complexes, ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’, Raffaelea lauricola, Fusarium oxysporum formae specialis, and Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici. Our review of CABI distribution records found 29 pathogens with confirmed first reports in 2022. Pathogens with four or more first reports were Meloidogyne species complexes, Pantoea ananatis, grapevine red globe virus, and Thekopsora minima. Analysis of the proportion of new distribution records from 2022 indicated that grapevine red globe virus, sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus, and ‘Ca. Phytoplasma vitis’ may have been actively spreading. As we saw last year, there was little overlap between the pathogens identified by reviewing scientific literature versus distribution records. We hypothesize that this lack of concordance is because of the unavoidable lag between first reports of the type reported in the CABI database of a pathogen in a new location and any subsequent major disease outbreaks being reported in the scientific literature, particularly because the latter depends on the journal policy on types of papers to be considered, whether the affected crop is major or minor, and whether the pathogen is of current scientific interest. Strikingly, too, there was also no overlap between species assessed to be actively spreading in this year's study and those identified last year. We hypothesize that this is because of inconsistencies in sampling coverage and effort over time and delays between the first arrival of a pathogen in a new location and its first report, particularly for certain classes of pathogens causing only minor or non-economically damaging symptoms, which may have been endemic for some time before being reported. In general, introduction of new pathogens and outbreaks of extant pathogens threaten food security and ecosystem services. Continued monitoring of these threats is essential to support phytosanitary measures intended to prevent pathogen introductions and management of threats within a country.
Date Issued
2024-08-01
Date Acceptance
2024-03-07
Citation
Phytopathology, 2024, 114 (8), pp.1717-1732
ISSN
0031-949X
Publisher
American Phytopathological Society
Start Page
1717
End Page
1732
Journal / Book Title
Phytopathology
Volume
114
Issue
8
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY 4.0 International license.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38723169
Subjects
BIOSECURITY
data science
diseases in natural plant populations
ecology
epidemiology
FRUIT VIRUS
FUTURE
global surveillance
GRAPEVINE
HEALTH
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
PATHOGEN
pathogen emergence and spread
PATHWAY
PESTS
plant disease outbreaks
Plant Sciences
RISK
Science & Technology
scientometrics
THREAT
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2024-05-09