EXPERT ADVISORY: Experts available to discuss causes, effects of western drought, including grasshopper infestation
HAMILTON, July 24, 2015: With drought conditions, wildfires, withering crops and now grasshoppers ravaging parts of western Canada, McMaster experts are available to discuss the effects of sustained hardship and the underlying conditions behind them.
Climate-change expert Altaf Arain, director of the McMaster Centre for Climate Change, can talk about broader trends that are expressed in the weather.
"If we look at extreme weather events across the world or North America over the past few years or more, they point towards a very different climate. These events are indicative of a warmer world with an enhanced hydrologic cycle, where increased warming is causing droughts, heat waves and wildfires in some regions and heavy rainfalls and flooding in others. Whether we are prepared to deal with it remains an open question," he says.
Arain is available at arainm@mcmaster.ca.
Insect expert Rosa da Silva can explain how drought conditions that make life so hard for farmers are actually ideal for grasshoppers, which devastate already weakened crops.
"During periods of drought, it is more difficult to keep grasshoppers in check since the fungi that typically keep populations under control do not thrive in periods of drought. Combining any precipitation after a drought with crops that have been limited by drought can lead to larger hatchings, allowing grasshoppers to get at the crops before any viable harvest, making it extremely stressful for farmers," she says.
Da Silva, an assistant professor of Biology, is available at rosa.dasilva@mcmaster.ca.
Dustin Garrick, Philomathia Chair of Water Policy, calls the drought crisis a slow-moving disaster with many wide-reaching implications.
He can speak to the crisis in California and how western Canada might learn from that experience, as well as the economic and geopolitical implications of water shortages. Garrick also serves on the task force of the OECD/Global Water Partnership on Water Security and Sustainable Growth.
Garrick can be reached at dgarrick@mcmaster.ca.
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For more information or to book an interview in McMaster's TV studio, please contact:
Wade Hemsworth
Public Relations Manager
Office of Public Relations
McMaster University
905-525-9140 ext. 27988
Michelle Donovan
Public Relations Manager
Office of Public Relations
McMaster University
905-525-9140 ext. 22869