Climate change could make a pest that smells bad and eats everything it can find spread even more. According to a recent modeling study, the amount of suitable habitat for the brown marmorated stink bug in the United States could increase by 70% as a result of changing weather. The research, which was published in Pest Management Science, is based on information gathered from a three-year stink bug surveillance program in 17 states as well as a number of potential climate change scenarios. Whether or not the insects live and do well in new places will depend on the environment in each place and any possible control measures.
The fact that you can grow garbanzo beans, lentils, or wheat without these pests now doesn’t mean you won’t have them in a few years, according to study lead author and entomologist Javier Gutierrez Illan of Washington State University. “Every system will change with climate change,” he added. “There are mitigating measures we can take, but it is prudent to be flexible.”
Overall, the study found that stink bug-friendly conditions are probably shifting to the north. The Mid-Atlantic, the Great Lakes, and the valleys of the West Coast, like the Sacramento Valley in California and the Treasure Valley in Idaho, may be hit the hardest.
As a generalist herbivore, the brown marmorated stink bug is known to eat nearly 170 different plants, including both agricultural and ornamental plants. This type of stink bug, which originated in Asia, debuted in the United States about 20 years ago and has since spread from coast to coast. It has been found in 46 states, 15 of which consider it a pest.
Because brown marmorated stink bugs prefer to spend the winter indoors, homeowners may recognize them. In fact, the study discovered that although proximity to populated areas seemed to aid in the insects’ establishment in new locations, once they were there, they did not require human contact to multiply. In their abundance, other factors, such as the availability of water, were more important.
Gutierrez Illan says that stink bugs are probably being moved by accident by people in cars or on farm equipment to places they couldn’t get to on their own.
Stink bugs dislike the cold winters, but if the land gets too dry, the rising temperatures brought on by climate change may not be so good. The researchers came to the conclusion that because stink bugs need water to live, changes in how much rain falls will probably change where they can thrive.
A parasitoid insect known as the samurai wasp is being used by officials and researchers in some states, including Washington, to control stink bugs. Inside stink bug eggs, wasps lay their own eggs. In addition to destroying the affected eggs, this also feeds other growing stink bugs when the wasp larvae hatch. Gutierrez Illan says that these steps could help stop or slow the spread of stink bugs to new areas.
The researcher advised Washington farmers to use WSU’s Decision Aid System (DAS), a web-based tool that offers information to help them get ready for changes to their agricultural systems, including the potential appearance of these pests.
Gutierrez Illan told growers that they should learn about the brown marmorated stink bug by going to websites like stopbsmb.org, even if they have never seen it in their fields.
The majority of growers receive their knowledge from their parents or the generation before them, but because of the changing climate, Gutierrez Illan said that these kinds of tools are necessary.
