The influence of weather and climate on agriculturally important insects: an Australian perspective

Abstract

Weather and climate affect insects and other arthropods of importance to agriculture in a wide variety of ways. Pest and beneficial insects, and insect vectors of plant and animal diseases, are all influenced both directly and indirectly by temperature, rainfall, wind, etc. These influences can be immediate or cumulative, and they can act either at the production site or, in the case of migrant species, at locations distant from it. Weather and climate influence, often very significantly, the development rate, survival, fitness, and level of activity of individual insects; the phenology, distribution, size, and continuity of insect populations; migration and the re-establishment of populations following local extinction; the initiation of outbreaks; the susceptibility of crops and stock to insect attack; and the capacity of producers to manage insect populations. In Australia, the high variability of rainfall is of particular significance in determining the size and quality of insect populations. Windborne migration can be important for transporting these populations into agricultural regions, and low winter temperatures in the south of the continent limit the distribution of tropical species. Current Australian research on these topics is directed mainly at the development of pest-forecasting systems, and at estimating the impact of global greenhouse warming.