An introduction to plant disease epidemiology

Abstract

There can be very little doubt that plant disease epidemiology provides the key to both a better understanding of disease problems and the most effective approach to their solution. In a literal sense, epidemiology describes the study area of many (possibly the majority of) plant pathologists. It is difficult to separate out research papers in current plant pathology journals that would not be classified under the general heading of epidemiological research. Those that might at first be classified differently would certainly be described as providing essential information to some aspect of epidemiology. In brief, epidemiology is the overall study of epidemics, the comprehensive analysis of the interaction between the three constituents of the ‘disease triangle’: the host, the pathogen and the environment.