Chinese scientists discover that the dominant wheat aphid species is changing due to climate change

Recently, a team led by researcher Ma Chunsen of the Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, after 6 years of research, found that climate change has broken the original balance of agricultural pest communities, changed the relative dominance among species in pest communities, and caused succession of the dominant species. It can be said that climate change is changing the dominant species of agricultural pest communities. The results of this research were published in the latest issue of the internationally renowned journal Global Change Biology.

To clarify the relationship between climate change and the relative dominance among species and community structure of agricultural pest communities, Ma Chunsen's research team conducted research experiments using three co-occurring wheat aphids, namely Sitobion avenae, Rhopalosiphum padi, and Schizaphis graminum, as a model system. The research team found that extreme high-temperature events changed the temporal relative dominance and community structure of the three wheat aphids. Because the three wheat aphids differ markedly in the plant parts they damage and the economic losses they cause, and also differ significantly in the types of wheat crop viral diseases they transmit and their virus transmission efficiency, changes in their community structure and relative dominance will affect the viral infection rate of wheat crops and the occurrence and epidemic of diseases, thereby affecting disease occurrence forecasting and the formulation of prevention and control strategies. In addition, wheat aphids occupy an intermediate trophic level in the wheat field ecosystem, and changes in their community structure will also affect the "crop-wheat aphid-natural enemy" system.

It is reported that the results of this research have important application value for predicting the impact of climate change on pests and their communities.