Dr. Edel Pérez-López Département de Phytologie, Université Laval Strawberry-leafhopper-phytoplasma, a pathosystem under siege by climate change Food security is threatened by climate change, directly through the response of crop productivity, and indirectly through the relationship of crops with plant pathogens and pests. In Quebec, strawberry growers have been noticing how in the last few years the number of insect pests have been increasing every summer, especially leafhoppers, members of the family Cicadellidae known vectors of virus and bacterial diseases. To understand these observations, we have been investigating for two years the diversity and abundance of leafhoppers in strawberry fields in the main producer areas of the province. In parallel, we have been also investigating the presence and distribution of strawberry green petal disease, a disease caused by bacterial pathogens transmitted by leafhoppers, and the role of those insects as vectors of the disease. In this seminar I will present the results of these two years of work finding an unexpected diversity of leafhoppers including eleven new reports for East Canada, an increase spread of strawberry green petal disease in Quebec fields, and evidence that new pathogens might be affecting soon strawberry fields in Canada, all this probably orchestrated by global warming.
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