Potential impact of climate change on whiteflies and implications for the spread of vectored viruses

Whitefies (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) are important insect pests causing serious damage to plants and transmitting hundreds of plant viruses. Climate change is expected to infuence life history and trophic interactions among plants, whitefies and their natural enemies. Here, we review the potential impacts of climate change on whitefies and the likely consequences for agricultural systems. This review concludes that while climatic stress tends to negatively afect life history traits, the efects difer with the tolerance of the whitefies and the amount of stress experienced. Whitefies also difer in their adaptability. Better adapted species will likely experience increased distribution and abundance provided their tolerance limits are not exceeded, while species with lower tolerance and adaptation limits will sufer reduced ftness, which will have overall efects on their distribution and abundance in space and time. The majority of methods used to control whitefies will still be useful especially if complementary methods are combined for maximum efcacy. Parasitism and predation rates of whitefy natural enemies could increase with temperature within the optimum ranges of the natural enemies, although life history traits and population growth potential are generally maximised below 30 °C. Changes in climatic suitability modifying the distribution and abundance of whitefies, and environmental suitability for plant viruses, will likely afect epidemics of viral diseases. Greater eforts are required to improve understanding of the complex efects of climate change on multi-species and multitrophic interactions in the agro-ecological systems inhabited by whitefies, and to use this new knowledge to develop robust and climate-smart management strategies.