Nature & Environment
Climate Change Boosts Severe Outbreaks of Crop Pest
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: May 16, 2015 11:14 AM EDT
Climate change is having some impacts and now, scientists have discovered that it's influencing the spread of a pesky insect. It turns out that it's helping the potato leafhopper to spread across the United States.
The potato leafhopper is barely half the size of a grain of rice with a bright lime green color. However, this insect feed voraciously on many crops, including potatoes, green beans and alfalfa. It causes untold millions of dollars of damage each year.
In order to better calculate its spread and what might be causing it, the researchers examined data that spanned more than six decades. This revealed that potato leafhoppers arrive an average of 10 days earlier than in the early 1950s, and their infestations are more severe in the warmest years. These effects correspond to an overall increase in years with warmer than average temperatures over the same period.
"the potato leafhopper is a significant pest in this country, spanning multiple crops across a large area," said Dilip Venugopal, co-lead author of the new study, in a news release. "Our results indicate that agricultural systems need to prepare for the effects of climate change in migratory pests. Earlier arrival is just one of the many factors that we need to be ready for."
Potato leafhoppers attack a wide variety of plant species and their saliva contains a toxin that can cause drying, curling and rotting of plant tissues. In the end, the researchers found that warmer temperatures are increasing the number of severe infestations of leafhoppers.
"Climate change is not just costly because temperatures and oceans rise, but because it makes it harder to feed ourselves," said Mitchell Baker, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Increased pest pressure in agriculture is one of the complex effects of continued warming. Predicting arrive time and severity is critical to managing this pest and others like it."
The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
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First Posted: May 16, 2015 11:14 AM EDT
Climate change is having some impacts and now, scientists have discovered that it's influencing the spread of a pesky insect. It turns out that it's helping the potato leafhopper to spread across the United States.
The potato leafhopper is barely half the size of a grain of rice with a bright lime green color. However, this insect feed voraciously on many crops, including potatoes, green beans and alfalfa. It causes untold millions of dollars of damage each year.
In order to better calculate its spread and what might be causing it, the researchers examined data that spanned more than six decades. This revealed that potato leafhoppers arrive an average of 10 days earlier than in the early 1950s, and their infestations are more severe in the warmest years. These effects correspond to an overall increase in years with warmer than average temperatures over the same period.
"the potato leafhopper is a significant pest in this country, spanning multiple crops across a large area," said Dilip Venugopal, co-lead author of the new study, in a news release. "Our results indicate that agricultural systems need to prepare for the effects of climate change in migratory pests. Earlier arrival is just one of the many factors that we need to be ready for."
Potato leafhoppers attack a wide variety of plant species and their saliva contains a toxin that can cause drying, curling and rotting of plant tissues. In the end, the researchers found that warmer temperatures are increasing the number of severe infestations of leafhoppers.
"Climate change is not just costly because temperatures and oceans rise, but because it makes it harder to feed ourselves," said Mitchell Baker, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Increased pest pressure in agriculture is one of the complex effects of continued warming. Predicting arrive time and severity is critical to managing this pest and others like it."
The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone