Native plants and non-native crops do not fare well in proximity to one another, attracting pests that spread diseases in both directions, according to two new UC Riverside studies.
Native plants and non-native crops do not fare well in proximity to one another, attracting pests that spread diseases in both directions, according to two new UC Riverside studies.
“We have changed the landscape, and it’s created opportunities for pathogens to thrive,” said UCR entomologist Kerry Mauck, who co-authored the studies. “We have introduced pathogens that damage native plants, and on the other side of the coin we have endemic pathogens that mutate to infect crops.”
Illustrating the latter scenario, a new paper in the journal Phytopathology documents the presence in wild California plants of a bacterial pathogen affecting nightshade plants like tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers.
Read More: University of California - Riverside
Top left: CLso-infected tomato plant showing disease symptoms. Top right: the potato psyllid vector of CLso bacteria. Bottom left: Solanum umbelliferum, the wild nightshade that harbors non-pathogenic CLso. Bottom right: an herbarium specimen of wild nightshade that tested positive for CLso infection. (Photo Credit: Kerry Mauck/UCR)
