Climate change is a concern across the Commonwealth. While many communities prepare by discussing improvements to infrastructure and disaster preparedness, managed and natural landscapes will demand attention too. We will highlight some of the manifestations of climate change, plant responses to those changes (trees and shrubs) and the interplay with insects (including pests).
Learn how:
- Insect populations fluctuate in response to climate change.
- Climate change affects the functioning & composition of our forests.
- Urban heat islands and climate change increase urban tree stress & increase pest insect fitness (scale insects).
- To be better prepared to predict and manage insect pest outbreaks caused by warming temperatures.
AGENDA
9:30 AM - Welcome & Introductions
9:45 AM – Insect Responses to Climate Change
Dr. Mariana Abarca, Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, Smith College
Dr. Abarca will cover the different ways in which climate change can affect insects. Manifestations of climate change, including warmer temperatures, irregular weather patterns and seasonal shifts can affect insects directly by changing their activity patterns and indirectly through their effects on the plants that insects feed on. We will cover generalities of insect responses to climate change and examples of situations in which insect populations have grown or declined in response to this phenomenon.
10:45 AM - Break
11:00 AM – Climate Change & New England Forests
Dr. Pamela Templer, Distinguished Professor and Chair of Biology, Boston University
Dr. Templer will share research her lab has conducted at Hubbard Brook in New Hampshire and Harvard Forest in Massachusetts to evaluate the effects of climate change, including warming air temperatures and shrinking snowpack, on New England forest ecosystems. She will describe past and ongoing experiments where members of her lab have warmed soils throughout the growing season (summer) and reduced the snowpack in winter to evaluate how climate change across seasons affects the functioning and composition of our forests.
12:00 PM - Break
12:15 PM – Direct and Indirect Responses of Ornamental Insect Pests to Climate Change and Management Implications
Dr. Steven Frank, Professor and Extension Specialist, Entomology & Plant Pathology, NC State Extension
Dr. Frank will share research his lab has conducted on scale insects, urban trees, and other pest systems. His research has focused on how urban heat islands and climate change have altered plant insect interaction by increasing plant stress and making insect pests more fit. His work has also included developing management solutions to improve management and predict pest outbreaks caused by warming.
1:30 PM - Closing, Pesticide & Association Credits
CREDITS
Pesticide: 2 pesticide credits available for MA categories 29, 35, 36, 48, and Applicators (Core) license. These credits are valid for all New England states for equivalent categories.
Associations: 3 ISA, 1 MCA, 1 MCLP, 1 MCH, 3 CFE (cat 1), and 3 SAF credits (cat 1).
Live via GoToWebinar. A recording will not be available for later viewing.