Climate change and its impact on agricultural pests Singh T.V.K.* Consultant ICRISAT Former Dean of Agriculture - Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Rajendranagar-500 030, India *E-mail: tvksingh955@gmail.com
Online Published on 15 February, 2024. Abstract Climate change is the most dynamic global environmental issue and most discussed issue. Climatic factors viz., rising temperatures, atmospheric CO2 levels, and change in precipitation patterns have significant impacts on agricultural production. Climate change can affect food security by changing physiology of crop plants and associated environment. As insects are cold blooded animals, climate change impacts insects significantly, and displays various and complex effects on crop pests worldwide. Changes in climate can affect insect pests in several ways. They can result in an expansion of their geographic distribution, increased survival during over-wintering, increased number of generations, altered synchrony between plants and pests, altered interspecific interactions, increased risk by invasive and migratory pests, increased incidence of insect-transmitted plant diseases, and reduced effectiveness of biological control agents. These all result into serious risk of crop economic losses challenging food security. Climate change requires adaptive management strategies to deal with the changing status of pests. In this review, the role of the climatic factors and changes that might have direct or indirect impacts on insect pests are discussed. Changes in these parameters are likely to favour or to limit pest species, depending on their ecological context. Climate change effects should be studied in the context of local climate and local ecological interactions. Several priorities can be identified for future research on the effects of climatic changes on agricultural insect pests. These include modified integrated pest management tactics, monitoring climate and pest populations, and the use of modelling prediction tools. Top Keywords Climate change, Agriculture, Insect pests, Risks impacts, Adaptation and mitigation. Top |