A perspective on the measurement of time in plant disease epidemiology |
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| Authors: | D J Lovell † S J Powers S J Welham S R Parker |
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| Institution: | Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Herts AL5 2JQ;;and Central Science Laboratory, Sand Hutton, York YO41 1LZ, UK |
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| Abstract: | The growth and development of plant pathogens and their hosts generally respond strongly to the temperature of their environment. However, most studies of plant pathology record pathogen/host measurements against physical time (e.g. hours or days) rather than thermal time (e.g. degree-days or degree-hours). This confounds the comparison of epidemiological measurements across experiments and limits the value of the scientific literature. |
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| Keywords: | degree-days epidemic rate thermal time |
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