Study Suggests Climate Change Could Boost Corn Pests

Warmer growing seasons and milder winters, brought about by climate change, could boost populations of insects that feed on corn and other crops, according to a Purdue University study. Severe pest infestation may significantly decrease corn yield in the United States, the world’s top corn producer and exporter. The study appears in the current issue of Environmental Research Letters.

Noah Diffenbaugh and his colleagues compared conservative climate change models to the temperature survival thresholds of four common corn pests found in the U.S.: corn earworm, the European corn borer, northern corn rootworm and western corn rootworm. "Basically, we examined both the number of days warm enough for the pests to grow and the number of days cold enough to kill the pests, assuming the pests' documented climate tolerances remain the same," explained Purdue entomologist Christian Krupke, co-author of the paper. "This tells us what could happen in projected future climates.”

The scientists predict that increases in temperatures could result to a substantial range expansion of each of the pests surveyed, especially in the case of corn earworm (Heliothis zea), a migratory, usually insecticide-resistant and cold-intolerant pest.

Read the full article at http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2008b/081216DiffenbaughCornpests.html The paper published by Environmental Research Letters is available to subscribers at http://www.iop.org/EJ/article/1748-9326/3/4/044007/erl8_4_044007.html