An app for apples: Citizen-led mapping of fire blight in Central Asia
Kurz M. Sultangaziev O. Szalatnay D. Sodonbekov I. Naizabayeva D.A. Milikbekova M. Akbarsho S. Bobushova S. Doolotkeldieva T. Rezzonico F. Smits T.H.M.
August 2024Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Journal of Plant Pathology
2024#106Issue 3967 - 970 pp.
Fire blight, caused by the bacterial pathogen Erwinia amylovora, is a severe bacterial disease of apple and pear that can quickly destroy whole plants. In the last decade, it was also detected in Central Asia, where wild pomaceous fruit plants represent the dominant species in mid-altitude forests and constitute a critical foundation for the entire ecosystem. Efficiently informing farmers, forestry services and private persons about the instances and dangers of fire blight, the correct way to recognize the symptoms, and the methods of disease control is thus of paramount importance in a vast and fragmented natural landscape like the one characterizing countries like Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. For that purpose, we have developed an app for smartphones and mobile devices that can inform stakeholders about fire blight, simultaneously allowing a citizen science approach for mapping the spread of the disease in Central Asia. The app is available in the three national languages as well as in Russian, English, and German, and can easily be adapted to new countries, languages or even diseases.
Android , Citizen science , Malus , Mobile device , Pyrus
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Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Research Group, Institute for Environment and Natural Resources, Zürich University for Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Wädenswil, Switzerland
Fauna & Flora International Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Strickhof Competence Centre for Agriculture and Food Management, Winterthur, Switzerland
National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyz Republic, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Tethys Scientific Society, Almaty, Kazakhstan
M.A. Aitkhozhin Institute of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Fauna & Flora International Tajikistan, Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Research Group
Fauna & Flora International Kyrgyzstan
Strickhof Competence Centre for Agriculture and Food Management
National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyz Republic
Tethys Scientific Society
M.A. Aitkhozhin Institute of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Fauna & Flora International Tajikistan
Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University
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