Given that scenario and its resulting temperature changes, all four corn pests will spread into new territories, the study found. The insects will also probably be able to squeeze an extra generation into the breeding season -- meaning more pests in more places. The study, which appeared in November in the journal Environmental Research Letters, found an especially dramatic expansion for the corn earworm. The bug is poised to move into the upper Midwest, parts of the central coast of California, and Washington's Columbia River Basin, among other places. All of those areas are currently too cold for overwintering. An earworm boom is particularly worrisome because the insect eats other crops, too. The pest is also highly resistant to insecticides and difficult to control. "Our results indicate that the costs of pest management could go up," Diffenbaugh said. "New pest management strategies may be required." Farming is already tough work, said Christopher Field, Director of the Department of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institution in Stanford, Calif. As warming alters the way plants and animals interact, farming will only grow tougher. "The paper is not saying that things are going to be great or that things are going to be terrible," Field said. "It's saying things are going to get more complicated and more multi-factored as the climate changes." Related Links: |
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