A study conducted by the universities of Exeter and Oxford has found that climate change may be influencing the spread of crop pests into areas that were previously too cold for them.
Researchers discovered that the crop pests were moving towards the north and south poles at around two miles a year because they are now able to survive in areas previously seen as too cold, reports BBC News.
In the study, which was published in Nature Climate Change, scientists examined 612 different types of pests from around the world and noticed how their ranges shifted towards the poles over the last 50 years. They concluded that climate change may be helping pests and diseases that attack crops to spread around the world. Between 10 and 16 percent of world crops have been lost because of disease outbreaks, and the rising temperature can make the problem worse.
He added, "We detect a shift in their distribution away form the equator and towards the poles. The most convincing hypothesis is that global warming has caused this shift."
Dr. Bebber continued stating, "One example is the Colorado potato beetle. Warming appears to have allowed it to move northwards through Europe to into Finland and Norway where the cold winters would normally knock the beetle back."
"We also need to protect our borders, we have to quarantine plants to reduce the chances that pests and pathogens are able to get into our agricultural systems," added Dr Bebber.