Global warming could spur more and hungrier crop-eating bugs
WASHINGTON (AP) – A new study predicts that a warmer world likely means more and hungrier insects chomping on crops and less food on dinner plates.
Insects now consume about 10 percent of the globe’s food, but the researchers say that will increase to 15 to 20 percent by the end of the century if climate change isn’t stopped.
The study looked at the damage bugs could do as temperatures rise. It found that many of them will increase in number at key times for crops. The hotter weather will also speed up their metabolism so they’ll eat more.
This undated image made available by Frank Peairs in 2007 shows a European corn borer. A warmer world likely means more and hungrier insects chomping on crops and less food on dinner plates, a new study suggests. (Frank Peairs/Colorado State University/Bugwood.org via AP)
The study is in Thursday’s journal Science.
This undated image made available by Frank Peairs in 2008 shows a colony of Russian wheat aphids in a wheat leaf. A warmer world likely means more and hungrier insects chomping on crops and less food on dinner plates, a new study suggests. (Frank Peairs/Colorado State University/Bugwood.org via AP)
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