Building Better Models to Predict Plant Disease Epidemics Under Global Climate Change

Environmental conditions affect multiple stages in the spread of infectious disease. As a result, it can be difficult to predict how environmental shifts brought on by climate change will alter disease dynamics and evolution. This project will explore environmental disease determinants in natural plant pathogen epidemics and create models of disease spread and evolution under different climate scenarios. Mechanistic models such as these will be critical for planning management interventions and protecting global food security into the future.