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P-IE

Student Competition 10-Minute Paper

Grad 10-min: P-IE, Climate Change

Oystershell scale: An emerging invasive threat to aspen in the southwestern US

On-Demand
Student Competition On-Demand
Oystershell scale (Lepidosaphes ulmi) is an emerging invasive insect that poses a serious threat to conservation of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) in the southwestern US. Aspen is considered a keystone species in the conifer-dominated West, where it provides critical habitat for a wide range of species and makes a disproportionately large contribution to biodiversity. Although oystershell scale’s origin is uncertain, the insect is believed to have arrived in North America with European settlers and was reported as a pest of apple trees as early as the 1700s. Oystershell scale is now present throughout much of the US and Canada and is a common pest of many deciduous tree species, including aspen, in urban settings. Historically, oystershell scale has not been a concern in natural forests; however, the insect has recently migrated into natural aspen forests in northern Arizona and other western states, where outbreaks are causing aspen dieback and mortality. We hypothesize that oystershell scale is a sleeper species that has recently “awoken” and entered the spread phase of invasions in Arizona. In this presentation, we discuss our concerns about oystershell scale’s hypothesized role as a sleeper species, potential interactions between oystershell scale and climate change, and oystershell scale’s polyphagous nature, all of which contribute to its potential as a high-impact invasive insect.