Regional assessment of emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis, impacts in forests of the Eastern United States

Morin, Randall S.; Liebhold, Andrew M.; Pugh, Scott A.; Crocker, Susan J.

doi:10.1007/s10530-016-1296-x

Cited by 40 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Outbreaks decimate forests and, in some instances, result in the local elimination of tree species [5,6] substantially changing forest ecosystems [1,7]. Among North American forests, the northeastern region is being particularly affected by these introductions [8,9], and one of the most recent pests arriving to this area is the emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Buying Time: Preliminary Assessment of Biocontrol in the Recovery of Native Forest Vegetation in the Aftermath of the Invasive Emerald Ash Borer

Margulies

Bauer

Ibáñez

2017

Forests

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Introduced forest pests have become one of the major threats to forests, and biological control is one of the few environmentally acceptable management practices. Assessing the impacts of a biocontrol program includes evaluating the establishment of biocontrol agents, the control of target pest, the impact on the affected organism, and the indirect impacts that the biocontrol agent may have on the whole community. We assessed the recovery of forest vegetation following the mortality of ash trees caused by the invasive emerald ash borer (EAB) pest in forest stands where biocontrol agents were released or not. We used a multilevel framework to evaluate potential indirect effects of the biocontrol agents on native forest seedlings. Our results showed a higher number of ash saplings where increasing numbers of the dominant EAB biocontrol agent were released, while the number of invasive and weedy saplings was negatively associated with the number of ash saplings, and the density of native seedlings was negatively associated with invasive and weedy saplings. The protection of ash saplings by the biocontrol agent may help native recruitment during forest transition by supporting the growth of native hardwood seedlings over invasive and weedy species. These results show that research on the efficacy of EAB biocontrol should include all ash size classes and the community dynamics of co-occurring species.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Buying Time: Preliminary Assessment of Biocontrol in the Recovery of Native Forest Vegetation in the Aftermath of the Invasive Emerald Ash Borer

Margulies

Bauer

Ibáñez

2017

Forests

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“…2013 Herms, McCullough 2014;Kovacs et al 2010;Kovacs et al 2011b;Morin et al 2016;Siegert et al 2014. Engelbrecht et al 2004Ocasio-Morales et al 2007.…”

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Urban trees: bridge-heads for forest pest invasions and sentinels for early detection

2017

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Urban trees have been increasingly appreciated for the many benefits they provide. As concentrated hubs of human-mediated movement, the urban landscape is, however, often the first point of contact for exotic pests including insects and plant pathogens. Consequently, urban trees can be important for accidentally introduced forest pests to become established and potentially invasive. Reductions in biodiversity and the potential for stressful conditions arising from anthropogenic disturbances can predispose these trees to pest attack, further increasing the likelihood of exotic forest pests becoming established and increasing in density. Once established in urban environments, dispersal of introduced pests can proceed to natural forest landscapes or planted forests. In addition to permanent long-term damage to natural ecosystems, the consequences of these invasions include costly attempts at eradication and post establishment management strategies. We discuss a range of ecological, economic and social impacts arising from these incursions and the importance of global biosecurity is highlighted as a crucially important barrier to pest invasions. Finally, we suggest that urban trees may be viewed as 'Sentinel plantings'. In particular, botanical gardens and arboreta frequently house large collections of exotic plantings, providing a unique opportunity to help predict and prevent the invasion of new pests, and where introduced pests with the capacity to cause serious impacts in forest environments could potentially be detected during the initial stages of establishment. Such early detection offers the only realistic prospect of eradication, thereby reducing damaging ecological impacts and long term management costs.

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“…The declining presence of butternut in North America thus represents another example of regional changes in forest composition driven by invasions of non‐native insects and pathogens (Lovett et al., ), a problem that is particularly acute in eastern N. America (Liebhold et al., ). Other examples of massive declines of North American tree species caused by insect and pathogen invasions include the demise of American chestnut, Castanea dentata , caused by the exotic fungal pathogen Cryphonectria parasitica (Dalgleish, Nelson, Scrivani, & Jacobs, ), the regional decline in American beech, F. grandifolia , caused by beech bark disease (Morin & Liebhold, ) and the current wave of ash, Fraxinus spp., mortality caused by the emerald ash borer (Morin, Liebhold, Pugh, & Crocker, ). While the regional decline in abundance of butternut documented here is similar to these other examples in its regional scale, it is unique in that butternut was not a common tree, even before the invasion of the butternut canker pathogen.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional patterns of declining butternut (Juglans cinereaL.) suggest site characteristics for restoration

Morin

Gottschalk

Ostry

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Butternut trees dying from a canker disease were first reported in southwestern Wisconsin in 1967. Since then, the disease has caused extensive mortality of butternut throughout its North American range. The objectives of this study were to quantify changes in butternut populations and density across its range and identify habitat characteristics of sites where butternut is surviving in order to locate regions for potential butternut restoration. The natural range of butternut (Juglans cinerea L.) extends over a large region of eastern N. America encompassing New Brunswick south to North Carolina, north to Minnesota, and southwest to Missouri. Despite the species’ large range, it is typically not a common tree, comprising a relatively minor component of several different forest types. We evaluated change in butternut abundance and volume from current and historic data from 21 states in the eastern United States. We related abundance and volume at two time periods to a suite of ecological and site factors in order to characterize site conditions where butternut survived. We also assessed the current level of butternut mortality across its range. Since the 1980s, the number of butternut trees and butternut volume have decreased by 58% and 44%, respectively, across its US range. Substantial relative decreases in tree numbers and volume occurred in most ecoregion sections. Five environmental variables were found to be significant predictors of butternut presence. The potential impacts of butternut canker are particularly acute as the canker pathogen invasion pushes a rare tree species toward extinction, at least at a local scale. Based on the results presented here, large‐diameter maple/beech/birch stands in dry, upland sites in eastern Minnesota, western Wisconsin, and upstate New York appear to offer the most favorable conditions for butternut growth and survival and thus may be the best stands for planting resistant butternut trees.

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Regional assessment of emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis, impacts in forests of the Eastern United States

Cited by 40 publications

References 27 publications

Buying Time: Preliminary Assessment of Biocontrol in the Recovery of Native Forest Vegetation in the Aftermath of the Invasive Emerald Ash Borer

Buying Time: Preliminary Assessment of Biocontrol in the Recovery of Native Forest Vegetation in the Aftermath of the Invasive Emerald Ash Borer

Urban trees: bridge-heads for forest pest invasions and sentinels for early detection

Regional patterns of declining butternut (Juglans cinereaL.) suggest site characteristics for restoration

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