In this talk I would like to present some examples of issues related to crop epidemiology, and in particular crop vector-borne diseases, for which Mathematical modeling can bring some new insights. The way plant diseases can spread are numerous, such that modeling [1-4] can become more complex, and thus more interesting, than standard human vector-borne diseases. Mathematical Modeling can also be helpful to derive new planting strategy [1] or new control strategies [2,3]. Unlike human vector-borne diseases, crop vector-borne diseases vectors can spread many plant diseases. For instance, Aphids are able to transmit several to hundreds of viruses on many crops. Plant viruses need vectors to survive. That is why, they have developed particular skills to enhance their survival, like host and vector manipulation. Modeling some vector preferences in temporal and spatiotemporal models [4] allow us to derive new results that can be useful to derive new vector control strategies.
[1] Roumen Anguelov, Jean Lubuma, Yves Dumont, Mathematical Analysis of Vector- Borne Diseases on Plants. In Guo, Y., Kang, M. Z., Dumont, Y. (Eds). The Fourth International Symposium on Plant Growth Modeling, Simulation, Visualization and Applications, Shanghai, China, 31 October-3 November 2012. Beijing: IEEE Press, 22–29 (2012)
[2] Michael Chapwanya, Yves Dumont. Application of Mathematical Epidemiology to crop vector-borne diseases. The cassava mosaic virus disease case. In Miranda I. Teboh- Ewungkem; Gideon Akumah Ngwa. Infectious Diseases and our Planet, 7, Springer, 2021, Mathematics of Planet Earth, 978-3-030-50825-8
[3] Michael Chapwanya, Yves Dumont. On crop vector-borne diseases. Impact of virus lifespan and contact rate on the traveling-wave speed of infective fronts. Ecological Complexity 2018, 34, pp.119 - 133.
[4] Yves Dumont, Frédéric Hamelin, Frank Hilker, Spatiotemporal modeling of plant dis- eases and vector preferences. In preparation. 2022.