Title: | Climate warming alters the structure of farmland tritrophic ecological networks and reduces crop yield |
Author(s): | Derocles SAP; Lunt DH; Berthe SCF; Nichols PC; Moss ED; Evans DM; |
Address: | "INRA, UMR 1347 Agroecologie, Dijon, France. School of Environmental Sciences, University of Hull, Hull, UK. School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK" |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1365-294X (Electronic) 0962-1083 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "It is unclear how sustained increases in temperature and changes in precipitation, as a result of climate change, will affect crops and their interactions with agricultural weeds, insect pests and predators, due to the difficulties in quantifying changes in such complex relationships. We simulated the combined effects of increasing temperature (by an average of 1.4 degrees C over a growing season) and applying additional rainwater (10% of the monthly mean added weekly, 40% total) using a replicated, randomized block experiment within a wheat crop. We examined how this affected the structure of 24 quantitative replicate plant-aphid-parasitoid networks constructed using DNA-based methods. Simulated climate warming affected species richness, significantly altered consumer-resource asymmetries and reduced network complexity. Increased temperature induced an aphid outbreak, but the parasitism rates of aphids by parasitoid wasps remained unchanged. It also drove changes in the crop, altering in particular the phenology of the wheat as well as its quality (i.e., fewer, lighter seeds). We discuss the importance of considering the wider impacts of climate change on interacting species across trophic levels in agroecosystems" |
Keywords: | "Animals Aphids/parasitology *Climate Change Crops, Agricultural/*growth & development *Ecosystem Farms Herbivory *Temperature Triticum/growth & development Wasps DNA barcoding ecosystem services food security food webs global warming natural pest control;" |
Notes: | "MedlineDerocles, Stephane A P Lunt, David H Berthe, Sophie C F Nichols, Paul C Moss, Ellen D Evans, Darren M eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2018/10/23 Mol Ecol. 2018 Dec; 27(23):4931-4946. doi: 10.1111/mec.14903. Epub 2018 Nov 25" |