Systems approaches in epidemiology and plant disease management

This contribution to Zadoks’ liber amicorum reviews the developments in quantitative epidemiology during the last decades. It elucidates the progress in this field and shows how empirical crop protection with many phenomenological aspects transformed into a science-based (inter) discipline. The availability of experimental tools and the rapid development and introduction of computers enabled the application of systems approaches which stimulated a revolution in thinking and caused a considerable improvement of strategic and tactical decision making in crop protection. Zadoks played a crucial role in that development.