Abstract
The sustainability of modern agriculture relies on strategies that can control the ability of pathogens to overcome chemicals or genetic resistances through natural selection. This evolutionary potential, which depends partly on effective population size (N e ), is greatly influenced by human activities. In this context, wild pathogen populations can provide valuable information for assessing the long-term risk associated with crop pests. In this study, we estimated the effective population size of the beet cyst nematode, Heterodera schachtii, by sampling 34 populations infecting the sea beet Beta vulgaris spp. maritima twice within a one-year period. Only 20 populations produced enough generations to analyze the variation in allele frequencies, with the remaining populations showing a high mortality rate of the host plant after only 1year. The 20 analyzed populations showed surprisingly low effective population sizes, with most having N e close to 85 individuals. We attribute these low values to the variation in population size through time, systematic inbreeding, and unbalanced sex-ratios. Our results suggest that H.schachtii has low evolutionary potential in natural environments. Pest control strategies in which populations on crops mimic wild populations may help prevent parasite adaptation to host resistance.
Highlights
Modern agriculture requires the development of integrated strategies that can control epidemics with reduced pesticide use (Pimentel 2005; Berny 2007; Meissle et al 2010)
The use of chemicals or genetic resistance, which are commonly employed for parasite control, may not be sustainable if the parasite possesses the evolutionary potential to overcome these resistance mechanisms via natural selection
The evolutionary potential, which is the ability for a population to adapt and evolve in its environment, is a population genetic concept that helps estimate the probability that a pathogen will overcome management strategies such as those relying on genetic resistance
Summary
Modern agriculture requires the development of integrated strategies that can control epidemics with reduced pesticide use (Pimentel 2005; Berny 2007; Meissle et al 2010). These strategies involve reconciling agronomic, economic, and sociological constraints with biological realities. One particular challenge ahead is to build strategies that account for this evolutionary potential, which is a determining factor of long-term pathogen-related risks (McDonald and Linde 2002; Barrett et al 2008).
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