Niche shifts and range expansions after invasions of two major pests: the Asian longhorned beetle and the citrus longhorned beetle

Abstract

Background: In recent years, the quarantine forestry pests the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) Anoplophora glabripennis and the citrus longhorned beetle (CLB) Anoplophora chinensis have spread across the Northern Hemisphere, triggering concern about their potential distribution. However, little is known about the niche shifts of the pests during the invasion, making it difficult to assess their potential ranges. We thus employed two distinct approaches (i.e., ordination-based and reciprocal model-based) to compare the native and invaded niches of ALB and CLB after their spread to new continents based on global occurrence records. We further constructed models with pooled occurrences from both the native and invaded ranges to analyze the effects of occurrence partitioning on predicted ranges.Results: We detected expansions in the invaded niches of both pests, indicating that the niches shifted to varying extents after the invasion. Large shares of the native niches of ALB and CLB remained unfilled, revealing the potential for further invasion in new regions. The models calibrated with pooled occurrences clearly underestimated the potential ranges in invaded regions compared with the projections based on partitioned models considering native and invaded areas separately.Conclusions: These results emphasize the importance of elucidating the niche dynamics of invasive species for obtaining accurately predicted ranges, which may help identify risk areas masked by the assumption of niche conservatism. Furthermore, prevention and quarantine measures for ALB and CLB are clearly needed to avoid future serious damage to forest ecosystems.

Dichotomous sperm in Lepidopteran insects: a biorational target for pest management

“…Reliance on prophylactic applications of existing wide spectrum insecticides inevitably leads to further turns of the pesticide treadmill ( 8 ), exacerbating the risk of damage to non-target organisms and the natural environment ( 9 ). Ironically, anthropogenic declines of insect populations may affect natural enemies more than pests, thus worsening pest outbreaks ( 10 ).…”

Modeling the pest‐pathogen threats in a warming world for the red turpentine beetle (Dendroctonus valens) and its symbiotic fungus (Leptographium procerum)

“…21,25 The estimation of the niche shifts in invasive species provides an essential basis for tracking their invasion history and preventing further expansions. 24 Many studies have reported niche shifts in invasive pests, such as Hyphantria cunea, 26 Anoplophora glabripennis and A. chinensis, 27 and Popillia japonica. 28 Godefroid et al 29 compared the occupied climatic space of Chinese populations of D. valens and three native lineages in North America and found a close distance between the invasive population and native lineages in northeastern and western North America; however, recent evidence suggests that these results might be owing to the insufficient sampling in China.…”

“…The estimation of the niche shifts in invasive species provides an essential basis for tracking their invasion history and preventing further expansions 24 . Many studies have reported niche shifts in invasive pests, such as Hyphantria cunea , 26 Anoplophora glabripennis and A. chinensis , 27 and Popillia japonica 28 . Godefroid et al 29 .…”