Insect wood borers on commercial North American tree species growing in China: review of Chinese peer-review and grey literature

Abstract

Invasive insect wood borers are a threat to global forests and tree-related industries as they can damage trees and spread plant pathogens. Reports of damages by wood borers on plants that were planted overseas may facilitate the identification of potential invaders and speed up risk assessment. However, much of this information remains unavailable to the international plant protection community due to language barriers, lack of digitization, or limited circulation of regional literature. Here, we investigated reports of wood borers on 7 important North American commercial tree species planted in China (Carya illinoinensis, Liquidambar styraciflua, Pinus elliottii, Pinus taeda, Quercus texana, Quercus rubra, and Quercus virginiana) in peer-reviewed as well as “grey” (nonpeer-reviewed) Chinese literature. A total of 60 unique wood borer records were found, yielding reports of 4 orders, 39 genera, and 44 species of insect wood borers. Among Coleoptera, longhorned beetles (Cerambycidae) were the most commonly reported colonizers of North American trees in China. Chinese peer-reviewed reports of pests on alien plants are a valuable tool to survey for potential wood-boring invaders of North America, and wherever North American trees are planted and have the potential to encounter Asian invasive insects. Digitization and dissemination of non-English literature are essential for contemporary risk assessment. On the other hand, the nonpeer reviewed “grey” literature, primarily agency reports and student theses, provided only 5% of the records; many incidental observations were unreliable.

Horizon scanning: Tools to identify emerging threats to plant health in a changing world

“…Recent examples of this approach can be found in Dong et al. (2023), Lovell‐Read et al. (2023) and Migliorini et al.…”

“…The use of sentinel plants may reduce or even eliminate the lag between establishment and detection of emerging pests. Recent examples of this approach can be found in Dong et al (2023), Lovell-Read et al (2023 and Migliorini et al (2023). However, this approach may be complicated by international regulations, as few countries have national legislation that specifically addresses sentinel plants, and the bureaucratic complexity of using sentinel plants varies widely across countries (Vettraino et al, 2020).…”