Insects take a bigger bite out of plants in a warmer, higher carbon dioxide world
Excerpt from text : Because of the direct effect of CO2 and temperature on global food supplies, the influence of these changes on plant physiology and ecology is being actively studied (4–7). How these elements of global change may alter the interactions between plants and the insects that feed on them is relatively unknown. By bringing to light secrets contained in the fossil record, Currano et al. (8), published in this issue of PNAS, found that the amount and diversity of insect damage to plants increased in association with an abrupt rise in atmospheric CO2 and global temperature that occurred 55 million years ago. If the past is indeed a window to the future, their findings sug- gest that increased insect herbivory will be one more unpleasant surprise arising from anthropogenic climate change.
Credits: PNAS February 12, 2008 vol. 105 no. 6
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