Do Invasive and Naturalized Aphid Pest Populations Respond Differently to Climatic and Landscape Factors?

Abstract

Ongoing environmental change affects pest populations, migration, and propensity to damage crops, but the responses to climatic drivers could vary among newly invasive and already naturalized closely related species. To compare these responses of a newly invasive aphid, Metopolophium festucae cerealium (Stroyan), with its naturalized congeneric [M. dirhodum (Walker)] and confamilial [Sitobian avenae (Fab.)], we conducted annual surveys over four years across a total of 141 winter wheat fields in the inland Pacific Northwest, USA. Key climatic factors (cumulative precipitation for each calendar year to sampling date, cumulative degree days), landscape factors (proportion of wheat and landscape diversity within the sample year), and Julian day were calculated for each sampling event, and aphid abundance by species, total aphid abundance, overall species richness, diversity, and aphid community composition were assessed. Metopolophium f. cerealium, the second most abundant species, was positively associated with precipitation, suggesting a projected increase in precipitation in winter and spring in the region could favor its establishment and expansion. Although M. dirhodum and S. avenae linearly (positively) associated with temperature, M. f. cerealium did not, indicating that continued warming may be detrimental to the species. Despite the weak impacts of landscape factors, our study indicated that more wheat generally facilitates cereal aphid abundance. Metopolophium f. cerealium abundance tended to be higher in earlier (May/early June vs. late June/July) samples when wheat crop could be vulnerable to aphid feeding. This study suggests that the new presence of M. f. cerealium has important pest management implications in the region.