Monitoring systems for resistance to plant protection products across the world: Between redundancy and complementarity

BACKGROUNDMonitoring resistance to Plant Protection Products (PPPs) is crucial for understanding the evolution of resistances in bioagressors, thereby allowing scientists to design sound bioagressor management strategies. Globally, resistance monitoring is implemented by a wide range of actors that fall into three distinct categories: academic, governmental, and private. The purpose of this study was to investigate worldwide diversity in PPP resistance monitoring systems, and to shed light on their different facets. RESULTSA large survey involving 162 experts from 48 countries made it possible to identify and analyze 250 resistance monitoring systems. Through an in-depth analysis, the features of the different monitoring systems were identified. The main factor differentiating monitoring systems was essentially the capabilities (funding, manpower, technology, etc.) of the actors involved in each system. In most countries, and especially in those with a high Human Development Index, academic, governmental, and private monitoring systems coexist. Overall, systems focus far more on monitoring established resistances than on the detection of emerging resistances. Governmental and private resistance monitoring systems generally have considerable capacities to generate data, whereas academic resistance monitoring systems are more specialized. Governmental actors federate and enroll a wider variety of stakeholders. CONCLUSIONThe results show functional complementarities between the coexisting actors in countries where they coexist. We suggest PPP resistance monitoring might be enhanced if the different actors focus more on detecting emerging resistances (and associated benefits) and increase collaborative and collective efforts and transparency.