Parasitic Nematode Abundance Aggregation as a Mechanism of the Adaptive Response of the Host Plant to Temperature Variations

Abstract

The mathematical model of host–parasite relations suggested previously by the authors was applied to analyze the formation of the aggregated distribution of parasites in the case of the host plant–parasitic nematode system. For nearly the same conditions and empirical infection levels, nematode abundances in the host population followed the gamma distribution. Exposure to temperature stresses modifies the resistance of the plant population to infection. Experiments with prolonged chilling of potato plants prior to nematode infestation revealed no statistically reliable increase in the share of resistant plants compared to the control, although the mean and the range of variation of the infection rate, as well as the aggregation of the parasite distribution, decreased. Short-term chilling of the plants prior to infestation led to a reliable decrease in the mean abundance of parasites and to the lowest aggregation of the parasitic nematode in the host plant population. The results of this study showed that this temperature stress caused potatoes to develop a reliably high and uniform resistance to the nematode.