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Insect responses to environmental change are crucial for understanding how agro-ecosystems will respond to climate change. Many insect species are pests of crops, but they also play crucial roles as parasitoids and predators of key pest species. Changes in an insect population's physiology, biochemistry, biogeography and population dynamics may occur among populations across their distribution, among the growing seasons, and among crop types. An insect population's response to a rapidly changing climate may also be variable when insects interact with different competitors, predators and parasitoids and impose costs at different life stages. This also can influence the overall food production systems that can be at critical risk from the impacts of climate change (IPCC 2014). |
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