Climate warming promotes pesticide resistance through expanding overwintering range of a global pest

Chun-Sen Ma (), Wei Zhang (), Yu Peng, Fei Zhao, Xiang-Qian Chang, Kun Xing, Liang Zhu, Gang Ma, He-Ping Yang and Volker H. W. Rudolf
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Chun-Sen Ma: Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Wei Zhang: Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Yu Peng: Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Fei Zhao: Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Xiang-Qian Chang: Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Kun Xing: Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Liang Zhu: Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Gang Ma: Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
He-Ping Yang: National Meteorological Information Centre
Volker H. W. Rudolf: BioSciences, Rice University

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Climate change has the potential to change the distribution of pests globally and their resistance to pesticides, thereby threatening global food security in the 21st century. However, predicting where these changes occur and how they will influence current pest control efforts is a challenge. Using experimentally parameterised and field-tested models, we show that climate change over the past 50 years increased the overwintering range of a global agricultural insect pest, the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella), by ~2.4 million km2 worldwide. Our analysis of global data sets revealed that pesticide resistance levels are linked to the species’ overwintering range: mean pesticide resistance was 158 times higher in overwintering sites compared to sites with only seasonal occurrence. By facilitating local persistence all year round, climate change can promote and expand pesticide resistance of this destructive species globally. These ecological and evolutionary changes would severely impede effectiveness of current pest control efforts and potentially cause large economic losses.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25505-7

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