Impact of Climate Change on Insect Diversity and Various Other Aspects of Insect-Pest Interaction with Host-Plant (Critical Review) Jaiswal Deepak Kumar1,*, Singh D.K.2, Singh Nikhil Kumar3 1Department of Entomology and Agril. Zoology, I. Ag. Sc, BHU, Varanasi 2Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, I. Ag. Sc, BHU, Varanasi 3Department of Agronomy, I. Ag. Sc, BHU, Varanasi *Email: deeraj3024@gmail.com
Online published on 15 December, 2016. Abstract Crop plants used as a food by human beings are damaged by over 10, 000 species of insects, and cause an estimated annual loss of 13.6% globally and 23.3% in India. In India, the average annual losses have been estimated to be 17.5% in eight major field crops like cotton, rice, maize, sugarcane, rapeseed mustard, groundnut, pulses, coarse cereals, and wheat. Losses due to insect damage are likely to increase as a result of changes in crop diversity and increased incidence of insect pests due to global warming (Dhaliwal et al., 2010). Arthropods can be used as indicators of environmental change more rapidly than the vertebrates. Main effects of climate change and pollution on arthropod communities result in decreased abundance of decomposers and predators, and increased herbivory, which may have negative consequences for structure and services of the entire ecosystems. While increased temperatures can potentially affect insect survival Development, geographic range, population size and physiology. There are various instances like swarm of locusts in the Canary Islands in 2004, rise on Dengue Transmission and recent research on a sample of 35 non-migratory European butterflies showed that 63% had ranges that shifted to the north by 35 to 240 km during the 20th century, while only 3% shifted to the south. Thus, for many insects, global warming has already changed range boundaries. Understanding how climate change will impact on various pests especially crop pests helps agricultural scientist to orient their research on various futuristic possibilities that can help in mitigating and adapting to menace of anticipated climate change. Therefore, we will have to adopt 3R's of saving our biodiversity Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!!! Top Keywords Estimated annual loss, indicators, arthropod communities, mitigating and reuse. Top |