The contrasting response of crop production and pest damage to ENSO cycles

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-25-2023

Abstract

El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a large-scale climatic phenomenon that has fundamental effects on the terrestrial environments and ecosystem functions. Based on observed crop production and pest damage of a 41-y time series from 1980-2020 in China, the present study examined ENSO’s long-term effects on agroecosystems and found that changing crop yields per hectare and pest outbreaks can ultimately be connected to ENSO cycles by comparing the effect sizes of respective responses across different ENSO phases. The El Niño phases (the warming phases) and La Niña phases (the cooling phases) have had opposite effects on crop yields and damage of arthropod pests in most cases, and such effects were climatic-region-dependent. Our evidence demonstrates that the climatic origin of a crop could associate with its responses to ENSO phases: wheat benefited from La Niña phases when planted in subtropical climates and from El Niño phases when planted in the middle temperate climate; rice were resilient to El Niño phases in warmer areas, while La Niña phases significantly increased the rice yield in the subtropical climate. Corn yields were significantly lower during El Niño phases in all four climatic regions, while La Niña phases significantly increased corn yields only in the Tibetan Plateau. Additionally, we found higher pest damage occurring during El Niño phases and lower damage occurring during La Niña phases for many arthropod species. Our improved understanding of crops and arthropod herbivore responses to ENSO phases can contribute to predicting global impacts of climate changes on agriculture and food security.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Entomologia Generalis

First Page

325

Last Page

335

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