Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - 10:55 AM
173-3
The Use of Geostatistical Analysis to Evaluate the Dynamics of Dollar Spot Epidemics.
Dollar spot (Sclerotinia homoeocarpa F.T. Bennett) causes one of the most important diseases faced by golf course superintendents throughout the United States. Fungicides are effective, but fungicide resistance and regulation have restricted their use. Site-specific application allows more judicious use of fungicides, but the spatial heterogeneity of dollar spot incidence was unknown. An intensive study was designed to determine the spatial distribution of dollar spot incidence using geostatistical analysis. Dollar spot foci were manually counted every two to three days in 200 quadrats in 2000, and in 888 quadrats in 2001 and 2002. Variograms showed spatial aggregation of dollar spot foci on a small scale, and remained stable throughout the growing season despite increasing disease incidence. The range parameter of the variograms was stable within a season with values ranging between 2.5-9.5, 1.3-1.9, and 1.2-2.2 m in 2000, 2001, and 2002, respectively. Kriged maps of dollar spot incidence also show a stable pattern of spatial aggregation remains throughout the growing season. The locations of dollar spot clusters changed between seasons, but the variograms from each season were similar, further suggesting stability of the spatial structure. It appears that limited secondary dispersal of S. homoeocarpa occurs during epidemics as evidenced by the stable variograms observed throughout the three growing seasons. The underlying factors involved in the observed stability are unknown.
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