MICROBIAL-POPULATION DYNAMICS ON LEAVES

Microbial population dynamics on leaves in time and space are a functi on of immigration, emigration, growth, and death. Insight into the rel ative significance of each population process to the generation of spe cific dynamics for individual microorganisms is necessary to understan ding the ecology and life history strategy of the microorganism and to developing effective control strategies. Additionally, information on the significance of within-leaf versus extra-leaf processes to the ge neration of phyllosphere dynamics is important to determining the rang e of spatial scales over which a population should be studied. Unfortu nately, such information is difficult to obtain due to the lack of eff ective methodologies for distinguishing these processes within phyllos phere populations. Future research efforts should focus on the quantif ication of immigration, emigration, growth, and death relative to the population dynamics of phyllosphere microorganisms.