Climate change and bugs

Climate change and bugs

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Call it whatever you would like, global warming, climate change, or just an abnormal shift in weather. The fact is that ag producers are facing new challenges and they aren’t pretty. At a recent technological meeting sponsored by Bayer Crop Sciences, issues regarding what scientists referred to as climate change were discussed in fervent terms. One issue that is emerging this year is an aphid borne disease called barley yellow dwarf virus. Dr. Juliet Marshall, a cereal pathologist talked with me about the dynamics of this disease. “Aphids acquire the virus from corn and other hosts. It takes a while to build up in the aphid and when the corn starts to dry down or is cut, they will fly into the early emerged grasses, winter wheat and winter barley especially. The earlier those grasses are coming up, the earlier that they are planted, the earlier that they emerge, the higher the likelihood that they will get the virus. You want to not plant or have your plants exposed until after a killing frost. We didn’t have an early killing frost last year. Thus the aphids were very numerous and very visibly effective at transmitting viruses.”

 

So if the planet continues to warm, many scientists believe bugs, who thrive in warmth, will be our greatest challenge.

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