By Kevin E. Noonan — The humble peach has been the inspiration for pies, album titles, independent movies, and a fictional woman’s baseball team, but is also an important food species, yielding 24.5 million tons globally in 2018. Like all plant species, their sessile nature makes them a good target for environmental studies because, unlike most animals, they must respond to changes in their environment by adaptation rather than flight. They have a diverse temperate host range from their origins in southwestern China, being found in temperate and subtropical regions, wet and dry climates, and in harsh environments (high altitudes,…
