Phytophthora palmivora

Introduction

Phytopthora palmivora is a type of fungus that causes bud rot of palms.
Common Name: Fungus
Primary Literature Article: Armstrong, Robert A. 1976. “Fugitive Species: Experiments with Fungi and Theoretical Conditions.” Department of Ecology and Behavioral Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota; 55108.

Figure 1. Different types of fungal rot in plants.

Figure 2. Photo of P. palmivora cell under a microscope. Image from J.H. Graham. University of Florida.

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Chromista

Phylum: Oomycota

Class: Oomycetes

Order: Peronosporales

Family: Peronosporaceae

Genus: Phytopthora

Species: Phytophthora palmivora

Background

Phytophthora palmivora is an oomycete that causes bud-rot of palms, fruit-rot or kole-roga of coconut and areca nut (Armstrong, 1976).
Phytophthora palmivora is known to raid and overcome colonies of cacao (Armstrong, 1976).
P. palmivora is capable of infecting a variety of hosts because of its ability to form sporangia and abundant zoospores on diseased tissue when free water is present (Armstrong, 1976).
P. palmivora is not expected to adversely affect humans or other mammals. Its only targets are plants (Armstrong, 1976).
Phytophthora palmivora is an hemibiotrophic oomycete capable of infecting over 200 plant species (Webster, et. al, 2006).

Data Analysis

The passage describes a study that explores the importance of the relationship between disturbance patterns and species life history in determining species coexistence (Armstrong, 1976).
The data shows P. palmivora was successful in creating daughter colonies, being as it is invasive (Armstrong, 1976).
The graph on top shows the growth rate of P. palmivora over time, and the bottom displays the growth rate of Penicillum over time (Armstrong, 1976).
The study emphasizes that the interaction between disturbance patterns and life history strategies plays a crucial role in species coexistence (Armstrong, 1976).

Figure 3. "Percentage coverage of Phytophthora palmivora vs. time for run X of the a- = 2.5-wk PERENNIAL experiments. Note the well-defined oscillations having a period of 10 wk. These oscillations were paralleled by, and may be causally related to, much less well-defined changes in total colony density. ("Colony density" at week x is the number of colonies of both species in the pair of 35-mm dishes seeded at week x." (Armstrong, 1976).

Conclusion

New evidence from the study reveals that the coexistence dynamics between Penicillium and P. palmivora are connected to the temporal partitioning of resources. The temporal partitioning observed in the PERENNIAL experiments highlights the importance of understanding, not only the life history patterns of organisms, but also the specific disturbance regimes they encounter. This discovery outlines some of the nature of species interactions and shows the significance of considering temporal dynamics in ecological studies.

References

Armstrong, Robert A. 1976. “Fugitive Species: Experiments with Fungi and Theoretical Conditions.” Department of Ecology and Behavioral Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota; 55108.
Webster, John & Weber, Roland. 2006. "Introduction to Fungi”, Exeter and Kaiserslautern.

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