Spring Break
Profs discover grazing animals spread disease
OSU researchers discover grazing animals spread viruses that infect valuable crops
Millie Reinhardsen
Issue date: 1/9/09 Section: News
Diseases are usually fairly straightforward: An infected germ invades a host.
From one critter to the next. Yet it is not always that simple on a macroscopic level, where the all the members of ecosystem are so closely interdependent on one another that one disease can not only affect one host, but the entire population of that host and possibly others.
It has recently been discovered that grazing animals, such as deer, wild boar and rabbits are spreading a group of viruses known as the Barley Yellow Dwarf Viruses (BYDVs), which are plant diseases transmitted by aphids and that affect some of the most economically-important crop species like barley, oats, wheat, maize and rice.
It is also the most widely distributed viral disease of cereals and it threatens more than 20 millions acres of native grasslands in California.
Elizabeth Borer, an assistant professor in zoology at OSU, and Dr. Eric Seabloom, also a professor in zoology at OSU, are in collaboration with Charles E. Mitchell, a professor at the University of North Carolina, and Allison Power, a professor at Cornell University, to study the complex interactions of plants, animals and viruses in the natural ecosystem.
They have found that these grazing animals are actually helping spread the plant diseases, and in some cases, quadrupling its prevalence.
"We usually think of a disease and its host as very tightly coupled, like a flu virus that infects humans," Borer said.
"But in natural ecosystems, we're finding it's not nearly that simple, and to understand how plant pathogens work, we have to consider the entire food web and many plant and animal interactions of which we are barely aware of."
The BYDVs don't directly affect animals, Seabloom said. But he added that the grazing animals do play a part in the frequency of the disease.
In most places, the prevalence of the virus is usually only about 5 percent, but it rose to 18 percent in areas of grazing animals.
From one critter to the next. Yet it is not always that simple on a macroscopic level, where the all the members of ecosystem are so closely interdependent on one another that one disease can not only affect one host, but the entire population of that host and possibly others.
It has recently been discovered that grazing animals, such as deer, wild boar and rabbits are spreading a group of viruses known as the Barley Yellow Dwarf Viruses (BYDVs), which are plant diseases transmitted by aphids and that affect some of the most economically-important crop species like barley, oats, wheat, maize and rice.
It is also the most widely distributed viral disease of cereals and it threatens more than 20 millions acres of native grasslands in California.
Elizabeth Borer, an assistant professor in zoology at OSU, and Dr. Eric Seabloom, also a professor in zoology at OSU, are in collaboration with Charles E. Mitchell, a professor at the University of North Carolina, and Allison Power, a professor at Cornell University, to study the complex interactions of plants, animals and viruses in the natural ecosystem.
They have found that these grazing animals are actually helping spread the plant diseases, and in some cases, quadrupling its prevalence.
"We usually think of a disease and its host as very tightly coupled, like a flu virus that infects humans," Borer said.
"But in natural ecosystems, we're finding it's not nearly that simple, and to understand how plant pathogens work, we have to consider the entire food web and many plant and animal interactions of which we are barely aware of."
The BYDVs don't directly affect animals, Seabloom said. But he added that the grazing animals do play a part in the frequency of the disease.
In most places, the prevalence of the virus is usually only about 5 percent, but it rose to 18 percent in areas of grazing animals.
Note: writers will not reply to comments.
Be the first to comment on this story
Comments by registered users are approved by default.