Aphids form, at the scale of France and Europe, a highly-varied group characterised by significant variability in their strategies for making use of the environment (reproduction methods, focus on dispersing forms, host alternation, level of food specialisation). This variability can be found not only at the specific level, but also at the infra-species level (gene and phenotype level).

Previous research has shown that this diversity is largely dependent on environmental and climate-related factors. In addition, the life cycles of the different species give them varying degrees of sensitivity to changes in their environment. Due to the group’s importance as crop devastators, the numbers of many species are tracked on a daily basis, using a capture system deployed across Europe over the last 35 years. In addition, the tools used for analysing infra-specific genetic diversity are available for several species. These factors make aphids a preferred model for the study of trends in biodiversity at the level of functional groups, as well as at the species and infra-species level (gene and phenotype).

The project aims to identify, through analysis, the capture dynamics for all of the species identified in the European network and genetic characterisation of a few species representative of how recent changes in the climate and land use have impacted aphid communities. This dynamic of change in diversity, at different scales, has been interpreted in connection with the biological features of the species group, the species and the population under consideration. The analysis focused not only on the change in average value of relevant environmental variables as well as the change in amplitude in their variation (concept of predictability level). The results achieved were extrapolated on the basis of plausible climate change and land use scenarios for the next few years, so as to come up with hypotheses as to their likely repercussions on the diversity and functioning of aphid communities and assess the related farming risks.