The coffee leaf rust disease (CLR), caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix, is an economically significant phytopathogen of cultivated Coffea species. Since coffee plants with CLR drop their infected leaves, rain splash from infected leaf litter could be one way H. vastatrix spores are dispersed, but this mechanism has not been demonstrated. Here we experimentally verify that splash from leaf litter can lead to H. vastatrix dispersal and infection. In a semi-controlled experiment, we compared the infection rates of pairs of potted uninfected, susceptible C. arabica plants with leaf litter that was either infected with CLR (experimental treatment) or without CLR (control). Plants with CLR litter became infected sooner than control plants by a median difference of 2.5 weeks. On average, CLR litter treatment plants had 18% of their leaves infected, while control plants had 9% of leaves infected, though later patterns could reflect leaf turnover and reinfection. Future research should investigate the dynamics of leaf litter splash for CLR in the field. Possible management measures to limit the effect of splash from leaf litter could include planting cover crops or restoring natural groundcover, techniques known to provide additional benefits as understood in general practices of agroecology.
", "funding": [ { "award": { "id": "021nxhr62::1853261", "number": "1853261", "program": "BIO/OAD", "title": { "en": "The Ecology of Critical Transitions in Pest Control in The Coffee Agroecosystem" } }, "funder": { "id": "021nxhr62", "name": "U.S. National Science Foundation" } }, { "award": { "number": "2017-67019-26292" }, "funder": { "id": "01na82s61", "name": "United States Department of Agriculture" } }, { "award": { "number": "2019-67022-29929" }, "funder": { "id": "01na82s61", "name": "United States Department of Agriculture" } } ], "languages": [ { "id": "eng", "title": { "en": "English" } } ], "publication_date": "2022-11-13", "publisher": "Springer Nature", "related_identifiers": [ { "identifier": "10.1007/s42161-023-01404-2", "relation_type": { "id": "issupplementto", "title": { "de": "Erg\u00e4nzt", "en": "Is supplement to" } }, "resource_type": { "id": "publication", "title": { "de": "Publikation", "en": "Publication" } }, "scheme": "doi" } ], "resource_type": { "id": "dataset", "title": { "de": "Datensatz", "en": "Dataset" } }, "rights": [ { "description": { "en": "The Creative Commons Attribution license allows re-distribution and re-use of a licensed work on the condition that the creator is appropriately credited." }, "icon": "cc-by-icon", "id": "cc-by-4.0", "props": { "scheme": "spdx", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode" }, "title": { "en": "Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International" } } ], "subjects": [ { "subject": "fungal pathogens" }, { "subject": "dispersal" }, { "subject": "disease control and pest management" }, { "subject": "cultural control" }, { "subject": "epidemiology" } ], "title": "Coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix) is transmitted by rain splash from infected leaf litter in a controlled experiment" }, "parent": { "access": { "owned_by": { "user": "583518" }, "settings": { "accept_conditions_text": null, "allow_guest_requests": false, "allow_user_requests": false, "secret_link_expiration": 0 } }, "communities": { "default": "b10e4d2c-2c09-40fc-8a9c-19fd595fe55c", "entries": [ { "access": { "member_policy": "closed", "members_visibility": "public", "record_submission_policy": "open", "review_policy": "open", "visibility": "public" }, "children": { "allow": false }, "created": "2026-06-02T02:26:08.618574+00:00", "custom_fields": { "subjects": [ { "id": "euroscivoc:55980855" }, { "id": "mesh:D004463" } ] }, "deletion_status": { "is_deleted": false, "status": "P" }, "id": "b10e4d2c-2c09-40fc-8a9c-19fd595fe55c", "links": {}, "metadata": { "curation_policy": "Data submissions should be related to research conducted in Finca Irlanda and the surrounding region. Data should be accompanied by descriptive documentation (metadata) that explains what the data is, how the data was collected, and how it can be used, including definitions data field codes. Metadata should indicate whether the data are in final form or are raw data.
\nSubmissions are reviewed and accepted by community members with curator, manager, or owner roles.
\nData submissions are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as the user gives appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
", "description": "A collection of datasets related to the Finca Irlanda long-term agroecology research site.", "funding": [ { "award": { "id": "021nxhr62::1853261" }, "funder": { "id": "021nxhr62" } } ], "organizations": [ { "id": "edmo:3655" } ], "page": "This community is a central repository of data related to the Finca Irlanda long-term agroecological research site, located in Chiapas, Mexico.
\nZotero library of publications: https://www.zotero.org/groups/6557637/la_finca
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