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ViewAttendees 16

P-IE

10-Minute Paper

10-min: P-IE, Invasive Species

Which factors drive impact of introduced insects feeding on North American conifers and woody angiosperms? The data speak

On-Demand
On-Demand
Introduced insects are increasingly invading global forest ecosystems, causing impacts that range from minor to functional host extinction. Knowing the impact of non-native insects is necessary for biosecurity measures, but we must first identify the mechanisms that are driving impacts. Using available data from introduced insects currently established in North American forest ecosystems, we evaluated several drivers that could potentially explain why some introduced insects are benign while others are catastrophic: i) insect traits, ii) host traits, iii) coevolved and novel host evolutionary history, and iv) insect evolutionary history. We found differences between the factors that drive the impacts of conifer specialists versus woody angiosperm specialists. The probability of severe impact by woody angiosperm specialists was based on a combination of feeding guild and plant disease association, whereas no insect traits were significant for conifer specialists. Both specialist types had a significant relationship with the divergence time between native and novel hosts and likelihood of high impact. In addition, certain host traits influenced the likelihood of high impact, though they were different based on the specialist type; wood density was a driver for woody angiosperm specialists, and shade and drought tolerance were drivers for conifer specialist impacts. Finally, the presence of a coevolved insect congener on the same tree only influenced the likelihood of impact for conifer specialists. These results help advance our understanding of interactions between introduced insects and their novel hosts, and can be useful for improving biosecurity measures against insect invasions in North America.