Modelling plant-insect interactions: theory and application in crop protection

Reducing the use of chemicals and thus developing environmentally friendlier methods such as biological control is one of the current important challenges in crop protection. But, even if biological control has developed very rapidly in the past decades, its successes in efficiently controlling insect pests have been mixed. Modelling and simulation tools can help to grasp biological interactions and also improve biological control. At the core of any biological control program lies a tri-trophic food chain linking plants, pests and their natural enemies. However, up to now, biological control modelling has primarily focused on pests-natural enemies interactions considering somehow that crop yield is not affected by the pests. In practice this assumption is not always realistic. If the main objective of the control is to maintain the crop yield above a critical threshold, then plant growth and plant-insect interactions have to be taken into account...Not an easy task! Using a minimal modelling approach, our contribution focuses on plant-insect interactions as a first step towards a full plants-pests-natural enemies model. Plant growth is modelled in such a way that the growth pattern of the plant and its final biomass are both dependent on the initial pest's infestation level. This contrasts with most population dynamics models, including plant-grazers models, which after some transients tend to produce similar dynamics for different initial conditions. Numerical simulations are provided using parameters identified in the literature to illustrate the model dynamics on the interaction between tomato plants and a leafminer, Tuta absoluta. In particular, the results show that well timed pests control interventions (mechanical control or non-persistent bio-pesticides) have important effects on the growth pattern and the final biomass of the tomato plants. (Résumé d'auteur

Modelling plant compensatory effects in plant-insect dynamics

International audienceModelling plant-pest interactions is not an obvious task since the involved processes are numerous and complex. We propose a minimal model based on trophic relations and the concept of plant compensation capacity. We only consider three main components in our system: the plant foliar biomass, the compensation capacity, and the pest population. We prove that there exist two threshold parameters, N1 and N2, and show that the system admits different equilibria, which are locally asymptotically stable or unstable, depending on the value of the previous threshold parameters. Finally, we summarize our theoretical results in a bifurcation diagram that allows to discuss possible control strategies to lower the impacts of the pest or even to obtain a better biomass yield

Effects of eight neuropsychiatric copy number variants on human brain structure

Many copy number variants (CNVs) confer risk for the same range of neurodevelopmental symptoms and psychiatric conditions including autism and schizophrenia. Yet, to date neuroimaging studies have typically been carried out one mutation at a time, showing that CNVs have large effects on brain anatomy. Here, we aimed to characterize and quantify the distinct brain morphometry effects and latent dimensions across 8 neuropsychiatric CNVs. We analyzed T1-weighted MRI data from clinically and non-clinically ascertained CNV carriers (deletion/duplication) at the 1q21.1 (n = 39/28), 16p11.2 (n = 87/78), 22q11.2 (n = 75/30), and 15q11.2 (n = 72/76) loci as well as 1296 non-carriers (controls). Case-control contrasts of all examined genomic loci demonstrated effects on brain anatomy, with deletions and duplications showing mirror effects at the global and regional levels. Although CNVs mainly showed distinct brain patterns, principal component analysis (PCA) loaded subsets of CNVs on two latent brain dimensions, which explained 32 and 29% of the variance of the 8 Cohen’s d maps. The cingulate gyrus, insula, supplementary motor cortex, and cerebellum were identified by PCA and multi-view pattern learning as top regions contributing to latent dimension shared across subsets of CNVs. The large proportion of distinct CNV effects on brain morphology may explain the small neuroimaging effect sizes reported in polygenic psychiatric conditions. Nevertheless, latent gene brain morphology dimensions will help subgroup the rapidly expanding landscape of neuropsychiatric variants and dissect the heterogeneity of idiopathic conditions

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake

Elaboration d'un modèle plante-ravageur dans le cadre de la lutte biologique

National audienceno abstrac

Elaboration d'un modèle plante-ravageur dans le cadre de la lutte biologique

National audienceno abstrac

La compensation dans les interactions plantes-insectes : modélisation, simulation et expérimentation

Resistance and tolerance, which is the ability of plants to endure a pest attack, are two different aspects of plants defenses. Tolerance is strongly linked to a compensation process which is a positive response of plants to the presence of pests (in terms of reproduction and / or growth). In order to bring new knowledges in the field of plants-insects interactions, we conducted three different studies on compensation in plants. In the first one, we developed a generic mathematical model, whose the study revealed the existence of threshold parameters that determine the co-existence or not of different types of compensation equilibria. The second study, which was experimental, aimed to test the hypothesis of a compensation response in tomato undet the attack of the tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta. In our experiment, the tomato cultivar presented trends in compensation for two levels of infestation, and trend of reproductive overcompensation for low infestation. Finally, our last study is based on a "Structure-Function" computer model, still on the case of tomato and T. absoluta. This model was used to test and visualize different situations (dates and positions of the attack) on a more realistic representation of the plant. In conclusion, we have shown that compensation may have a significant impact on the effectiveness of strategies for crop protection and must be taken into account in their development.La résistance et la tolérance, c'est à dire la capacité de la plante à supporter la présence des ravageurs, sont deux moyens dont usent les plantes pour se défendre. La tolérance est fortement liée à un processus de compensation qui est une réponse positive des plantes à la présence des ravageurs (en terme de reproduction et/ou de croissance). Dans le but d'apporter de nouvelles pistes de réflexion dans le domaine des interactions plantes-insectes, nous avons conduit trois études différentes sur la compensation chez les plantes. Dans la première, nous avons développé un modèle mathématique générique, dont l'étude a mis en évidence l'existence de paramètres seuils qui déterminent la co-existence ou non de différents types d'équilibres de compensation. La seconde étude, expérimentale, visait à tester l'hypothèse de compensation chez la tomate en réponse à la mineuse de la tomate, Tuta absoluta. Dans notre expérience, le cultivar de tomate a présenté des tendances à la compensation pour deux niveaux d'infestation, et à la sur-compensation reproductive en cas de faible infestation. Enfin, toujours dans le cas de la tomate et T. absoluta, les derniers développements s'appuient sur un modèle informatique de type « Structure-Fonction ». Ce modèle a permis de tester et visualiser différentes situations (dates et positionnements de l'attaque) sur une représentation plus réaliste de la plante. Pour conclure, nous avons mis en évidence que la compensation peut avoir un impact important sur l'efficacité des stratégies de protection des cultures et qu'elle doit être prise en compte dans le développement de ces dernières

Compensation response in plant-insect interactions : modelling, simulation and experiment.

La résistance et la tolérance, c'est à dire la capacité de la plante à supporter la présence des ravageurs, sont deux moyens dont usent les plantes pour se défendre. La tolérance est fortement liée à un processus de compensation qui est une réponse positive des plantes à la présence des ravageurs (en terme de reproduction et/ou de croissance). Dans le but d'apporter de nouvelles pistes de réflexion dans le domaine des interactions plantes-insectes, nous avons conduit trois études différentes sur la compensation chez les plantes. Dans la première, nous avons développé un modèle mathématique générique, dont l'étude a mis en évidence l'existence de paramètres seuils qui déterminent la co-existence ou non de différents types d'équilibres de compensation. La seconde étude, expérimentale, visait à tester l'hypothèse de compensation chez la tomate en réponse à la mineuse de la tomate, Tuta absoluta. Dans notre expérience, le cultivar de tomate a présenté des tendances à la compensation pour deux niveaux d'infestation, et à la sur-compensation reproductive en cas de faible infestation. Enfin, toujours dans le cas de la tomate et T. absoluta, les derniers développements s'appuient sur un modèle informatique de type « Structure-Fonction ». Ce modèle a permis de tester et visualiser différentes situations (dates et positionnements de l'attaque) sur une représentation plus réaliste de la plante. Pour conclure, nous avons mis en évidence que la compensation peut avoir un impact important sur l'efficacité des stratégies de protection des cultures et qu'elle doit être prise en compte dans le développement de ces dernières.Resistance and tolerance, which is the ability of plants to endure a pest attack, are two different aspects of plants defenses. Tolerance is strongly linked to a compensation process which is a positive response of plants to the presence of pests (in terms of reproduction and / or growth). In order to bring new knowledges in the field of plants-insects interactions, we conducted three different studies on compensation in plants. In the first one, we developed a generic mathematical model, whose the study revealed the existence of threshold parameters that determine the co-existence or not of different types of compensation equilibria. The second study, which was experimental, aimed to test the hypothesis of a compensation response in tomato undet the attack of the tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta. In our experiment, the tomato cultivar presented trends in compensation for two levels of infestation, and trend of reproductive overcompensation for low infestation. Finally, our last study is based on a "Structure-Function" computer model, still on the case of tomato and T. absoluta. This model was used to test and visualize different situations (dates and positions of the attack) on a more realistic representation of the plant. In conclusion, we have shown that compensation may have a significant impact on the effectiveness of strategies for crop protection and must be taken into account in their development