Climate change effect on the efficacy of biological control agents of terrestrial and aquatic invasive weeds

Climate change may affect the weed biology and ability to thrive well in adverse situations in comparison to biocontrol agents used to manage these weeds though biological control methods. The complex interactions between invasive terrestrial and aquatic weeds and their biocontrol agents have challenges under climate change scenarios. Increased climatic parameters like temperature, CO₂ and rainfall have been documented well for increasing the fitness of terrestrial and aquatic weeds in different areas. Some studies have also pointed out the effect of elevated temperature, CO₂ and rainfall on the insect life-cycle and their performance to manage the invasive weeds by the biocontrol agents. Many prediction models based on climatic parameters have been developed in context to the distribution and range expansion of terrestrial and aquatic weeds and also suitability of their biocontrol agents to manage them. In this review, we synthesize and discuss studies describing the potential of biocontrol agents for the management of invasive terrestrial and aquatic weeds under climate change in context to India and the world as well. We also discuss potential methodologies of prediction models that can be used for the fast establishment of biocontrol agents against the invasive weeds under climate change.