BRIGIT project featured in National Geographic
Plant pathogen Xylella fastidiosa was named alongside West Nile Virus and Avian influenza as one of the seven pathogens that might become more of a problem in the UK due to climate change. The article ‘Seven warmer-weather diseases climate change may bring to the UK’ by Simon Ingram discusses diseases of humans, animals and plants which are spread by vectors including insects and birds.
The fact that Xylella was the only plant pathogen featured in a list is an indicator of how potentially devastating it could be. It can infect a wide range of agriculturally important crops, causing blockages in the plants’ water and nutrient transport vessels. Xylella is spread by sap-feeding insects like spittlebugs which are common in the UK. There are fears that warmer temperatures might lead to changes in insect habitat ranges and more favourable conditions for bacterial growth.
Fortunately Xylella fastidiosa is not currently present in the UK. The BRIGIT project have been working to understand how climate change might affect insect behaviour and better ways of detecting and rapidly dealing with any infections. Project lead Professor Saskia Hogenhout told National Geographic “Current evidence shows that the insects largely remain local. However, this may change in the future –particularly if areas become deprived of water and the insects need to migrate to areas with more green plants. We estimate that the spread is likely to be less impactful than the outbreak locations in Southern Europe, but there is still some uncertainty.”