Urban trees facilitate the establishment of non-native forest insects

Abstract

Cities, due to the presence of ports and airports and the high diversity of trees in streets, parks, and gardens, may play an important role for the introduction of invasive forest pests. We hypothesize that areas of urban forest facilitate the establishment of non-native forest pests. Based on scientific literature and a pan-European database on non-native species feeding on woody plants, we analysed where the first detections occurred in European countries. We collected site data for 137 first detections in Europe and 508 first European country-specific records. We also estimated the percentage of tree cover and suitable habitat (green areas with trees) in buffers around detection points. The large majority of first records (89% for first record in Europe and 88% for first records in a European country) were found in cities or suburban areas. Only 7% of the cases were in forests far from cities. The probability of occurrence decreased sharply with distance from the city. The probability to be detected in urban areas was higher for sap feeders, gall makers, and seed or fruit feeders (>90%) than for bark and wood borers (81%). Detection sites in cities were highly diverse, including public parks, street trees, university campus, arboreta, zoos, and botanical gardens. The average proportion of suitable habitat was less than 10% in urban areas where the species were detected. Further, more than 72% of the cases occurred in sites with less than 20% of tree cover. Hotspots of first detection were identified along the coastal regions of the Mediterranean and Atlantic, and near industrial areas of central Europe. We conclude that urban trees are main facilitators for the establishment of non-native forest pests, and that cities should thus be intensely surveyed. Moreover, as urban areas are highly populated, the involvement of citizens is highly recommended.

Pathologists and entomologists must join forces against forest pest and pathogen invasions

“…Early de-tection of nascent populations is critical to the success of attempts to eradicate such populations and integrated surveillance programmes therefore play a key role in national biosecurity programmes (Coulston et al 2008;Pluess et al 2012;Liebhold et al 2016). Surveillance for arrivals of alien forest pests and pathogens should focus in high-risk areas, such as urban and peri-urban forests close to industrial and commercial areas and near ports and airports (Branco et al 2019). Characterisation of geographical variation in invasion risk and optimal allocation of surveillance resources across that variation is critical to the success of surveillance programmes (Epanchin-Niell 2017).…”

Modelling for risk and biosecurity related to forest health

“…Because scientific studies in the field of invasion science often focus on a single well characterized pest species, invasion phase, area or vector, it is unclear whether generalisation to species with similar traits, propagule pressure and habitat characteristics is possible [12,25]. Some studies have been performed on finding generalities in establishment and spread characteristics of species [28][29][30]31]. These studies do not focus on pest-specific drivers, but try to unveil general patterns by going beyond species.…”

ПОШИРЕНІСТЬ ГРИЗУЧИХ Комах-Філофагів У ЛИСТЯНИХ НАСАДЖЕННЯХ М. ХАРКОВА

“…Останнім часом її склад змінюється внаслідок збільшення частки представників екологічних груп комах, стійких до техногенного забруднення, пилу та коливань температури (Frank and Just, 2020), зокрема мінерів (Willem, 2013;Kirichenko, 2014). Також видовий склад ентомофауни міських насаджень поповнюється за рахунок проникнення з рослинним матеріалом і пакувальною тарою адвентивних видів, які знаходять принадні кормові породи та сприятливі умови для виживання у зимовий період (Kollár, 2014;Roques et al, 2017;Branco et al, 2019).…”