Impact of climate change on insect pests, plant chemical ecology, tritrophic interactions and food production

Abstract

Climate change is a major concern for agriculture globally. Dynamic climatic parameters including increased temperature and carbon dioxide have greatly affected crop production. As a consequence of climatic uncertainties, new insect pests have emerged, the crop cultivation practices have changed, and drought and floods have created havoc around the globe. Besides, plant and insecticidal resistance against insects and diseases has got compromised, the diversity and abundance of arthropods has changed, geographical ranges of insect pests have extended far beyond their existing limits and new biotypes have evolved. All these have led to the reduced efficacy of crop protection technologies, huge crop losses, thereby, food insecurity. Although concerted efforts have been made and simulation models have been developed to mitigate the climate change effects on plants, still, most simulation models fail to account for losses due to pests, weeds and diseases. In addition, the monitoring data of insect pests are not available in most of the developing countries and the software models developed for prediction analysis are not effective against insect- pests. This review highlights the possible impacts of climate change on phytophagous insects, chemical ecology, and plant pest interactions leading to food insecurity and the strategies thereof.