Topic 1: How do pathogen/pest populations respond to deployment of host resistance?

What kind of pathogen populations pose the greatest risk of overcoming host resistance?

Which types of pathogen biology carry higher risk; i.e., confer greater evolutionary potential on pathogen population?

Large population sizes and mutants: a thought experiment

What pathogens have a relatively small effective population size?

Which contributes to greater risk of evolution to overcome resistance?

Which types of pathogen biology carry higher risk; i.e., confer greater evolutionary potential on pathogen population?

Slide 8

Reproduction / Mating system – asexual, sexual, or mixed?

Slide 10

It’s the degree of population variability that counts, not sex by itself