Ecology and Control of Viruses with Soil-Inhabiting Vectors

Abstract

It is now about 20 years since the resurgence of interest in plant viruses that spread via the soil. Many developments have occurred during this period: Numerous previously known viruses have been shown to infect plants from the soil, new soilborne viruses have been described, much has been learned about the properties of the viruses themselves and, most important, vectors of different kinds have been recognized. As a result, the ecology of soilborne viruses is increasingly studied not only in relation to the biology of the viruses but also in terms of the biology and activity of their vectors; also, control methods are progressing from the empirical to those based on a fuller scientific knowledge of the factors involved. In this article I attempt to bring together the great variety of relevant findings, giving some emphasis to more recent work. I cannot cover the subject exhaustively in the space available, and in some instances my choice of examples is somewhat arbitrary. Further examples and other viewpoints can be found in several reviews on topics that overlap with mine (9, 53, 57, 94, 144, 153).