The agricultural sector of Cyprus is seriously affected by climate change impacts. In the framework of the ADAPT2CLIMA project, the available techniques and methods implemented worldwide for the adaptation of six crops (wheat, barley, potatoes, tomatoes, grapes, and olives) to climate change impacts were thoroughly assessed. The identified adaptation options were categorized according to the climate change impact they address as follows: measures against drought stress, heat stress, decreasing plant health, extreme weather events and reduced crop productivity. Another category that refers to measures that address more than one category of climate change was also added. The evaluation of the identified adaptation options was based on a self-administered semi-structured questionnaire. The identified adaptation measures were graded according to the following criteria: efficiency of the measure, urgency of implementing the measure, usefulness of implementation irrespective of climate change, technical difficulty, contribution to climate change adaptation, economic viability and social acceptance. Fifty-six respondents (experts and stakeholders) filled the questionnaire, suggesting twelve recommended adaptation measures (with high score ≥ 60%), which mainly refer to irrigation adaptation measures, cultural practices, and methods for upgrading external services to farmers. The recommended adaptation measures for Cyprus are thoroughly presented and discussed.

Mass trapping is an environmentally safe alternative to insecticide application for the Mediterranean fruit fly management. The selection of effective trap-attractant combinations for monitoring and mass trapping control remains challenging. The current study explored the attractiveness of trapping devices during spring (early season) and summer (late season) in field cage trials. Five trapping devices were assessed: (a) the commercially available Decis^® trap, (b) Tephri trap baited with Biodelear, (c) Tephri trap baited with BioLure, (d) International Pheromone McPhail trap (IPMT) baited with Biodelear, and (e) IPMT baited with BioLure. On a test day, 100 adults (50 males and 50 females) were released in each field cage wherein traps were placed individually. Trap captures were recorded at hourly intervals from 10:30 am to 5:30 pm. Our results showed that Tephri traps baited either with BioLure or Biodelear captured the most adults under low temperatures. Efficacy of Tephri traps baited with BioLure were higher than that of other trap-attractant combinations at high temperatures. Adult captures in Decis^® trap were low during both seasons. More males than females were captured at low temperatures. Both efficacy and female selectivity of trapping devices are related to prevailing temperature regimes during spring and summer under semi-field conditions.

The Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata, is considered one of the most destructive fruit pests worldwide. Female medflies prefer to lay eggs in ripening, ripe, or overripe fruits. In deciduous orchards of temperate regions, fruitlets (juvenile fruits) of early cultivars could represent the earliest spring resource with a potential host function for medflies. However, little is known about the medfly female’s ability to ovipositing and complete breeding in fruitlets. To clarify the possible role of fruitlets, the suitability of key-host fruitlets for the oviposition of medflies and the further development of immature stages were examined in laboratory conditions and an attempt was made to assess the degree of infection of fruitlets collected in the field. Additionally, the development of the overwintering medfly population and the putative use of fruitlets as a resource for early population growth were simulated using the PESTonFARM model optimized to reflect specific features of medfly biology and behavior. Our laboratory data demonstrate that nectarine and pear fruitlets can support the full development of medfly offspring. However, no medfly pupae were obtained from a sample of 14,000 fruitlets collected at the farm. The simulation showed that the sample number needed to detect with at least 95% certainty rare cases of medfly pupae or adults emerging from infected fruitlets is several tens of thousands, which is several times more than the actual number of fruitlets used in our study. Our research suggests that the fruitlets of some cultivated fruit species can potentially constitute a viable food resource for the development of the earliest generation of spring medflies, with implications for medfly Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is considered one of the most important phytophagous pests worldwide. In Croatia, it severely affects the fresh fruit production in Dalmatia, and a national suppression action plan has been established to alleviate farmers’ burden. The aim of the current paper was to comprehensively study the overwintering dynamics of medfly in Dalmatia and investigate whether adults and pupae in addition to larvae can overwinter in different conditions, with a goal to support the establishment of a sound off-season control strategy against this pest. The off-season strategy, which was recently proposed in the frameworks of the EU Horizon 2020 funded project FF-IPM, focuses on the management of the low adult populations during winter and early spring period that has a detrimental effect on the development of the on-season summer and early autumn populations. Overwintering trials were conducted in Split (Dalmatia region, Croatia) using the local C. capitata population. Cages with different life stages (adults, pupae) or infested fruits were periodically transferred in three overwintering sites (open-field, semi-field, and urban conditions) from October to December (two to three establishment dates during the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 season). Our results provide strong evidence that, in addition to larvae within fruit, both adult and pupae can survive in significant proportions in open-field and urban conditions. Overwintering site and establishment date were both significant predictors of the overwintering success of adults, and they affect pupae developmental duration, adult emergence rates from overwintering pupae, female fecundity, and generally the overwintering ability of the pupae. Our results suggest that the current national strategy for C. capitata suppression, which is based on the assumptions of larvae overwintering need to be adjusted by development and implementation of the off-season strategy.