Climate Change and Plant Disease

Plant disease causes regular substantial losses to agricultural production, causing famine in some cases, and also damage to natural plant systems. Fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, and other groups can cause plant disease. The interaction between pathogens and plants is often strongly determined by weather. For example, leaf surface moisture is critical to infection for many foliar pathogens. Temperature influences infection processes for pathogens as well as determining rates of reproduction of arthropods that vector pathogens. As weather patterns change, disease risk also changes, requiring that strategies for management be updated to new conditions.