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Crop pests outwit climate change predictions en route to new destinations
https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/featurednews/title_463776_en.html[font face=Serif][font size=5]Crop pests outwit climate change predictions en route to new destinations[/font]
[font size=4]A paper from the University of Exeter has highlighted the dangers of relying on climate-based projections of future crop pest distributions and suggests that rapid evolution can confound model results.[/font]
[font size=3]Crop pests and pathogens are destructive organisms which pose a huge threat to food security and land management across the world. Much research has been carried out into why the pests are spreading, where they are likely to establish next, what damage they will do and what can be done to reduce their impact.
...
Dr Bebber said: “Our review has highlighted how difficult it is to predict where damaging crop pests may turn up. Their ability to evolve tolerance to different climates has been investigated in only a few species but has not been considered in distribution models. We now urgently need to improve monitoring and identification of these pests, particularly in the developing world, both for research and to secure food production.”
Dr Victor Izzo from the University of Vermont, who recently published on the adaptation of the Colorado potato beetle, said: "The evolutionary dynamics of insect populations following expansion is an important and often overlooked factor in determining the success of pest invasions. For the Colorado potato beetle, this could not be more evident. The beetle has evolved various ecophysiological traits, including burrowing behaviour and plant-mediated diapause, for surviving within temperate climates, facilitating its emergence as a truly cosmopolitan pest. From an evolutionary standpoint, the subtropical origins of the beetle provide little insight into its current global distribution."
...[/font][/font]
[font size=4]A paper from the University of Exeter has highlighted the dangers of relying on climate-based projections of future crop pest distributions and suggests that rapid evolution can confound model results.[/font]
[font size=3]Crop pests and pathogens are destructive organisms which pose a huge threat to food security and land management across the world. Much research has been carried out into why the pests are spreading, where they are likely to establish next, what damage they will do and what can be done to reduce their impact.
...
Dr Bebber said: “Our review has highlighted how difficult it is to predict where damaging crop pests may turn up. Their ability to evolve tolerance to different climates has been investigated in only a few species but has not been considered in distribution models. We now urgently need to improve monitoring and identification of these pests, particularly in the developing world, both for research and to secure food production.”
Dr Victor Izzo from the University of Vermont, who recently published on the adaptation of the Colorado potato beetle, said: "The evolutionary dynamics of insect populations following expansion is an important and often overlooked factor in determining the success of pest invasions. For the Colorado potato beetle, this could not be more evident. The beetle has evolved various ecophysiological traits, including burrowing behaviour and plant-mediated diapause, for surviving within temperate climates, facilitating its emergence as a truly cosmopolitan pest. From an evolutionary standpoint, the subtropical origins of the beetle provide little insight into its current global distribution."
...[/font][/font]
