Onwards and upwards - aphid flight trends follow climate change

Abstract

The world faces an uncertain future; climate change and the concerns about the security of food production feature prominently on political and scientific agendas world-wide. In this issue, Bell et al. (), drawing on the unique 50-year data set amassed by the suction trap network run by the Rothamsted Insect Survey (RIS), elucidate the mechanisms advancing aphid phenology under climate change and show how by using biological traits we can make predictions about emerging crop pests. Here, I discuss their findings in the context of phenological coincidence and host plant availability.