Grant: Alliance Grants

Insect development is often tied to temperature and its outbreaks may become more prevalent as temperatures increase. Pests in agriculture can include weeds, plant diseases (fungi, bacteria, and viruses), rodents, and nematodes, as well as plant-feeding insects and mites, and are estimated to damage up to one-third of overall agricultural productivity. This is especially true for Prince Edward Island, where the agricultural pests (e.g., wireworm) have shown a significant growth in both population and geographical distributions in recent years, due to the changing climatic conditions. A better understanding of pest incursion in the face of future climate change is not only highly valuable for species conservation; it can also be paramount for the preservation of natural resources and for local communities that rely on those resources. Therefore, this project aims to develop a customized pest prediction system for Prince Edward Island (PEI) through the partnership with the PEI Department of Agriculture and Land (DAL). This will help bridge the gap in pest prediction in PEI by using the latest high-resolution seasonal climate data and long-term climate change scenarios. The results from this project can provide the research scientists in PEI DAL and local farmers in PEI with science-based information to support their current pest management practices and to help them develop long-term adaptation measures for future climate change.