Quantification of climate change impacts on agricultural pests

Summary

Temperature is the dominant abiotic factor determining development rates, preproduction and migration of many insects. Climate change will therefore alter population abundance, geographical distribution and seasonal phenology of important agricultural pests. Scenarios concerning possible impacts of climate change on pests are necessary to identify adapted plant protection strategies and sustainable plant management options. Model-based studies are a valuable method for estimating the impacts of climate change on insect pests. Such projections are not easy to develop, because impact models often require a high temporal and spatial resolution of future climate data and long-term field observations are necessary for model calibration and validation.