Temperature dependent phenological synchrony between host-fruit availability and occurrence of Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, a crucial link to study climate change

Importance of using host plant phonological events in conjunction with weather variables to predict pest activity was attempted. Temperature dependent phenological synchrony was observed between host fruit availability and fruit fly trap catch in oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis. Using soft computing tool and traditional linear regression, the fruit fly prediction accuracy could be enhanced upto 92% using host-fruit availability and temperature together. This study clearly showed that both host-fruit availability and fruit fly occurrence exhibited a synchronous response to temperature, one of the important indicators studied to assess the long term impacts of climate change.