Projection of the Potential Global Geographic Distribution of the Solanum Fruit Fly Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel, 1912) (Diptera: Tephritidae) Based on CLIMEX Models
, Zhi Gong 2,*, Wanxue Liu 3,* and Zhengqiang Peng 1,2
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe paper presented is interesting and will make a valuable scientific contribution. The change in potential distributions of pestiferous insects due to global climate change is an important topic with a large readership. The layout of the manuscript closely follows the scientific code of writing and is easy to follow. The methods are well explained and results are properly given graphically or given in the text.
I only have some minor comments and suggestions that should be considered:
Figure 1 should colour native and alien records differently. Otherwise a very neat figure.
Figure 2 and 3: the four categories should not end in –ly but rather simply given as poor, moderate, and high.
Line 351-352 : Please explain more clearly what is being implied by explicitly saying how the results of this study could help facilitate global trade.
Line 374: Grammatical error – temperature increase instead of temperature increasing.
My biggest concern is the construction of sentences in especially the Discussion. The science behind the work is of good quality but the clumsy sentence construction detracts from the work presented. The Discussion will also benefit from including a few more references to support statements (about 4 or so).
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageI suggest the authors make use of a language editing service to fix sentence construction as required.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsA solid scientific study devoted to the solution of an important practical issue is presented.
The reasons for the possible expansion of the range of a known pest under the influence of climate change are established.
The methodology and results of the research do not raise doubts.
The article contains minor technical errors, mainly related to the rules for writing the full Latin names of species and genera.
In the manuscript, comments are highlighted in red.
line 3
Add autor of the species description:
Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel, 1912)
line 19
add after Asia: SW Europe, western USA
line 22
Bactrocera latifrons: must be cursive
line 30
add after Asia: SW Europe, western USA
line 48
Add autor of the genus description: Bactrocera Macquart, 1835
line 49
Capsicum: must be cursive
line 52
delete dot before [6]
line 99
Tephritid fruit flies must be space before (e.g....
line 99
Add autors of the species description:
Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart, 1835) , Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt, 1897)
line 100
B. dorsalis (Hendel, 1912)
line 146
Dot after 1 is missing
line 289
Côte d'Ivoire
line 291
Republic of South Africa
line 345
Add autor of the species description:
Bactrocera correcta (Bezzi, 1916)
line 365
Delete space before dot
line 372
Add autor of the species description:
Anastrepha suspensa (Loew, 1862)
line 373
Add autor of the species description:
apple maggot Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh, 1867)
line 373
Add autor of the species description:
Bactrocera zonata (Saunders, 1842)
line 373
correct to: climate warming,
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsAs I am not a specialist in modelling I have some minor suggestions to the manuscript:
Line 22: put Bactrocera in italics
Line 49 – put Capsicum in italics
Line 80 - put space before „This influence ...”
Line 81 – are you sure insects are „ectoderms”? This word means something completely different – correct or remove
Line 82 – put space before “Temperature…”
Line 99 – put space before the bracket
Line 143 – explain, why record from Italy was eradicated, climate modelling showed a possibility of its occurrence there
Line 149 – put “.” after “Ma et al”
Line 256 – correct the spelling of South America and write “In” with small letter
Lines 364, 365 – remove space before “North America” and after “rising .”
Lines 367, 368 – remove space before “on pests”, “host plant”
Line 373 – put space into “climatewarming” and remove before the comma
Line 383 – put space before “The CLIMEX”
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear Authors,
The presented work is devoted to the forecast of potential invasion of the fruit fly Bactrocera latifrons (Diptera: Tephritidae) in the regions of Southeast Asia based on the construction of a model.
In the context of global climate change, pest invasions are increasingly common around the globe. With warming, these species penetrate into more northern regions, gain a foothold there, and are introduced into local agro- and natural ecosystems. In such conditions, the development of methods for predicting the spread of pests is very relevant. Therefore, the presented work can be considered important for practical economics in the field of agriculture and can be recommended for publication.
I would like to ask the authors a few questions to consider in future developments.
1. In fact, you have studied two factors impact on fly population – (1) species development during a year and (2) climate as the main factor affecting species distribution. Do you really believe that these two factors are absolutely adequate to reveal potential distribution of pest species into new and nonrelevant areas?
2. Bactrocera latifrons is known as a pest of Solanum and some Cucurbitacea plants, i.e. this species needs appropriate plant species occurrence in the new territories for successful expanding its areal. Why didn’t you mention potential of these plant occurrence in the territories, which theoretically could be invades by Solanum fruit fly?
3. One of the main factor of fly distribution is economic activity of human. Solanum and Cucurbitacea fruit are planted and growth by human and provides new comfortable feeding conditions to the fly, and transportation of agricultural products and mechanisms (or tourist activity) provides easy ways to penetrate the fly into new territories. Why this serious factor is not considered in your model as ‘basic assumption'?
4. Can you present some data of successfully realized in practice application of The CLIMEX model product for prognosis of pest or dangerous species expansion? Why didn’t you mention these facts in the presented paper?
5. Do you planning provide your research with the practical inspection of Bactrocera latifrons expantion according to your model, or this study will remain theoretical?
Thank you!
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
