Publication Details |
| Category | Text Publication |
| Reference Category | Journals |
| DOI | 10.1111/gcb.70775 |
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| Title (Primary) | Climate change can generate enemy-free space for crop-feeding herbivores |
| Author | Wyckhuys, K.A.G.; Pozsgai, G.; Finch, E.A.; Seehausen, M.L.; Zhang, W.; Gc, Y.D. |
| Source Titel | Global Change Biology |
| Year | 2026 |
| Department | BioP |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Page From | e70775 |
| Language | englisch |
| Topic | T5 Future Landscapes |
| Keywords | agroecology; biodiversity conservation; biotic resistance; climate change; ecological intensification; functional ecology; insect decline; sustainable agriculture |
| Abstract | Crop-feeding herbivores reduce the world's food output by approximately 20% and climate change (CC) is bound to deepen those losses. Endemic or introduced consumer organisms (i.e., biological control agents) naturally regulate herbivore populations and secure a quarter of crop yields, but are exceptionally susceptible to CC-related disturbances. Here, we use niche modeling for 14 globally-important herbivores (or pests) to forecast how richness of the associated biological control agents of each pest—as a proxy of service strength—may alter under a CC-driven range expansion. Results show that 57%–100% of pests are bound to lose parasitoid and predator associates. The cassava mealybug Phenacoccus manihoti may experience a 27% decline in parasitoid pressure, whereas cosmopolitan pests of cereal and horticultural crops benefit from 6% to 7% drops in predator pressure. Such ‘enemy release’ can possibly exacerbate pest-induced yield losses and threaten future harvests. Ant-pest associations change in both directions, implying that pests may either face strengthened or weakened biological control. For pests spreading towards or within food-deficit regions in the equatorial belt, parasitoid declines and increases in ant pressure are most pronounced. By exposing the fragility of biodiversity-based ecological safeguards in farmland, our work calls for urgent, integrative, and nature-friendly solutions to uphold food security under environmental change. |
| Wyckhuys, K.A.G., Pozsgai, G., Finch, E.A., Seehausen, M.L., Zhang, W., Gc, Y.D. (2026): Climate change can generate enemy-free space for crop-feeding herbivores Glob. Change Biol. 32 (3), e70775 10.1111/gcb.70775 |
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