Identify the coldspots and hotspots of crop pests and pathogens

Summary

My main question of this thesis is how climate change impact staple crops through changes in pests and pathogens. I utilized modelling techniques to explore potential effects of climate change on pests and pathogens of staple crops including wheat, rice, maize and soybean. First, I reviewed the existing work of impact of climate change on wheat and rice, and its pests and pathogens. Second, I inferred the likely distribution of the Sitobion grain aphid complex in face of climate change. Third, I created multi-species distribution maps that depict potential future hotspots and coldspots of crop pathogens and insect pests and revealed co-occurrence patterns in agro-ecosystems that have important ramifications for optimal control strategies. Fourth, I predicted changes in the global distribution of insect pest community richness and composition under two climate scenarios: one with low emissions and less warming, and one with high emissions and greater warming.