Mathematical modelling by plant disease epidemiologist Dr Nik Cunniffe, also in the Department of Plant Sciences at Cambridge, explored how the experimental findings apply outside the glasshouse. The model showed how pollinator bias for infected plants can cause genes for disease-susceptibility to persist in plant populations over extremely large numbers of generations.
The latest study is the culmination of work spanning almost eight years (and multiple bee stings). The findings will form the basis of a new collaboration with the Royal Horticultural Society, in which they aim to increase pollinator services for cultivated crops.