Impacts on Nematode Pests - Climate Resilient Agriculture for Ensuring Food Security - page 176

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Impacts on Nematode Pests

Abstract
Plant pathogenic nematodes are one of the important biotic constraints in
crop production. Climate change due to increased emission of greenhouse
gases is posing a serious challenge to sustainability of crop production by
interfering with biotic and abiotic components and their interactions with
each other. Global warming resulting in elevated carbon dioxide (CO 2 )
and temperature in the atmosphere may infl uence plant pathogenic nema-
todes directly by interfering with their developmental rate and survival
strategies and indirectly by altering host plant physiology. Available infor-
mation on effect of global warming on plant pathogenic nematodes though
limited indicates that nematodes show a neutral or positive response to
CO 2 enrichment effects with some species showing the potential to build
up rapidly and interfere with plant's response to global warming. Studies
have also demonstrated that the geographical distribution range of plant
pathogenic nematodes may expand with global warming spreading nema-
tode problems to newer areas. Besides plant parasites, other trophic groups
(microbial feeders, predators, and insect parasites) of soil nematodes also
shown to infl uence the plant productivity indirectly by regulating the key
ecosystem processes including decomposition, nutrient mineralization,
biological pest suppression, and energy transfer in food webs. These fi nd-
ings underline the importance of understanding the impact of climate
change on soil nematodes and its implications to crop production while
developing mitigation and adaptation strategies to address impact of
climate change on agriculture.

Keywords
Nematodes • Climate change • Global warming • Agriculture • Geographical
distribution • Pest management

Soil nematodes are very small (0.3-5.0 mm long
as adults) worm-like animals which occur in mil-
lions per square meter of soil. Nematodes are
ubiquitous and the most abundant group of mul-

ticellular organisms on earth (Sohlenius 1980 ).
They are represented at more than one trophic
level in soil food web as they act as primary
consumers (herbivores), secondary consumers