Climate Change and Its Potential Impacts on Insect-Plant Interactions

The most dynamic and global environmental issue to date is climate change. The consequences of greenhouse effect and climate change from rising temperatures, frequent droughts, irregular rainfall, etc. are already evident. Insects and plants are affected by climate change and extreme weather events and the direct impact of anthropogenic climate change has been reported on every continent, in every ocean and in most major taxonomic groups. In the modern period, as a result of natural cycles and anthropogenic activities and their effects on the global climate, plants are typically susceptible to new environmental factors, i.e. higher levels solar radiation, rise in temperatures, greenhouse effect and changes in rainfall patterns over the seasons. Increased temperatures, CO2 and rapid changes in rainfall patterns can dramatically alter the biochemistry of plants and thus plant defence responses. This can have important implications in insect fertility, feeding rates, survival, population size, and dispersal. The relationships between plants and insects are thus changed with significant consequences for food security and natural ecosystems. Similarly, mismatches between plants and insect pollinators are caused by the acceleration of plant phenology by warming. Human nutrition which depends on insect pollination can be affected with reduction in plant reproduction and fitness. Thus, understanding abiotic stress reactions in plants and insects is relevant and challenging in agriculture. In the preparation and implementation of effective strategies for future insect pest management programmes, the impact of climate change on crop production, mediated by changes in the populations of extreme insect pests should be carefully considered.