International Programs: Invasive Species
Invasive species threaten the health of U.S. forests and grasslands. Finding solutions to managing and preventing invasive species requires international cooperation. Forest Service International Programs supports global collaboration that helps control invasive species that are already in the United States, as well as proactively prevent the importation and establishment of invasive species that threaten U.S. forests.
From the infographic above:
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More than 450 non-native pests & pathogens that feed on trees are living in U.S. forests
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$4.2 billion in forest products industry is lost annually to invasive insect pests
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More than 25 new destructive pests expected to enter the U.S. through trade in the coming decade
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Wood packaging and live plants are the two main entry pathways for non-native forests insects and diseases.
News & Stories
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Press Coverage: Washington State University's sentinel trees project, funded by USFS IP, was featured in an article and video on the Port of Tacoma's website: https://www.portoftacoma.com/news/early-warning-system-invasive-pests-takes-root-port-tacoma
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Project News: In September 2024, IP supported a team of four scientists - Forest Service pathologists Dr. Dani Martin and Dr. Cameron Mcintire, Dr. Bob Marra from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, and Dr. Paolo Vieira from USDA's Agricultural Research Service- to travel to Japan for field work and collaborations with Japanese scientists to find the origin of Beech Leaf Disease (BLD).
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Project News: Dr. Greg Wheeler from USDA's Agricultural Research Service conducted surveys of cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica), in South Korea and Japan in September 2024, and found new pests affecting cogongrass and more information on cogongrass lineages, as part of an IP-supported search for biocontrol agents for the invasive cogongrass in the U.S.
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Project Outreach: Dr. Lourdes Chamorro from USDA's Agricultural Research Service presented research findings from IP-supported work at the XXVII International Congress of Entomology in Japan in August 2024, including preliminary results about evolutionary relationships among species of Agrilus, a genus that includes more than 3,300 species including the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) and progress towards a centralized online portal for Agrilus taxonomic and biological data. Updates on this research will also be presented at the Entomological Society of America’s annual meeting in Arizona this November.
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Project Outreach: At the IUFRO World Congress in Stockholm, Sweden, in June 2024, postdoctoral researcher Dr. Aaron Weed presented a talk on “Cross-scale drivers of Sirex noctilio outbreaks in its native and invasive ranges”, sharing IP-funded work from Dartmouth College and international collaborators.
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Project News: IP established a new partnership with The Ohio State University to analyze seasonality and temperature impacts on trade-related risks of the introduction of non-native forest insects in solid wood packaging material
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Project News: A new partnership between International Programs and Auburn University will establish sentinel tree gardens near the Port of Mobile as part of a pilot program to monitor trees for pest or pathogen activity in proximity to U.S. shipping ports of entry.
Recent Supported Publications
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Liebhold, A. M., Turner, R. M., Bartlett, C. R., Bertelsmeier, C., Blake, R. E., Brockerhoff, E. G., Causton, C. E., Matsunaga, J. N., McKamey, S. H., Nahrung, H. F., Owen, C. L., Pureswaran, D. S., Roques, R., Schneider, S. A., Sanborn, A., F. & Yamanaka, T. (2024). Why so many Hemiptera invasions?. Diversity and Distributions, e13911. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ddi.13911
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Dong, Yiyi; Marais, Christopher; Wang, Bo; Lin, Wei; Chen, Youcheng; Li, You; Johnson, Andrew J.; Hulcr, Jiri. "Pre-invasion assessment of potential invasive wood borers on North American tree species in Chinese sentinel gardens". Entomologia Generalis. 10.1127/entomologia/2024/2489
See the “From the Archives” section below for more publications
Program Highlight
The USDA system of record, Agricultural Commodity Import Requirements (ACIR), has recently added official definitions for all the types of wood packaging material (WPM) used in international trade and shipping. These new definitions provide clear practical guidance and photos (https://acir.aphis.usda.gov/s/acir-glossary) on different types of WPM, which will now enable U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect consistent data about all WPM inspected at U.S. ports of entry. This development comes about as a result of engagement that Leigh Greenwood at The Nature Conservancy has undertaken, with funding support from Forest Service International Programs, to improve the data environment and knowledge around WPM and the International Standard Phytosanitary Measure that applies to wood packaging, such as pallets and spools, (known as ISPM-15) to prevent invasive organisms entering the U.S via infested WPM.
Leigh Greenwood’s engagement with partners led to co-writing the definitions with representatives from USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the private shipping industry, and both the U.S. and Canadian wood pallet industry association leadership; creating a set of mutually acceptable categories of WPM so that CBP could change their data collection protocols in a way that reflected both the on-the-ground terminology and the reality for private industry and CBP.
The establishment of these definitions will yield significant changes in knowledge of WPM. First, the standard definitions can allow collection of consistent data leading to more effective research on the risks of WPM and the opportunities to improve. Second, concurrent CBP planning has begun to create a standardized record-keeping mechanism of ISPM-15 stamps associated with findings of non-compliance, which will also enable both increased enforcement and increased effectiveness of future research. Third, following the establishing of these official definitions by the U.S. government, other countries are now expressing interest in following suit- an encouraging development to improving our knowledge of global WPM risks to forest health, and how best to mitigate them.
The Invasive Species Program funds initiatives and research that foster international collaboration and lead to applied measures that protect U.S. forests from non-native insects, pathogens, and plants.
We are currently supporting partnerships that:
improve knowledge and management of non-native forest pests and pathogens already in the United States, including the emerald ash borer, Sirex wood wasps, and Beech leaf disease
improve knowledge and management options for invasive grasses such as cogongrass and cheatgrass
builds publicly available scientific information on Agrilus species, commonly known as "jewel beetles," which include many highly invasive forests pests like the emerald ash borerexplores mitigation of import pathways of non-native pests and plants, especially solid wood packaging materials like wooden pallets;
experiments with sentinel plantings overseas to identify damaging pests not yet in the United States.
The Invasive Species program supports these efforts through interagency agreements, grants and cooperative agreements, and travel support.
Agricultural Research Service (USDA)
Arkansas State University
Botanic Gardens Conservation International
Clemson University
Auburn University
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Ontario, Canada
National Museum of Natural History
The Pennsylvania State University
American Public Gardens Association (APGA)
Scion Research, New Zealand
Shandong Agricultural University
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
The Ohio State University
The Nature Conservancy
Dartmouth College
University of Florida: Entomology & Nematology
Washington State University
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences
2024
“Asymmetrical insect invasions between three world regions.” NeoBiota, 90(11), January 2024 https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.90.110942
2023
“Novel Pathogen–Plant Host Interaction: Colletotrichum jiangxiense and Fraxinus americana L. (White Ash) in a Sentinel Garden in China.” Plants 2023, 12(23), 4001, November 2023 https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12234001
Historical plant introductions predict current insect invasions”, published April 2023. [link: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2221826120 ]
"First report of Epicoccum latusicollum causing leaf spot disease on red maple (Acer rubrum L.) in China: Insights from a sentinel planting garden", Crop Protection January 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cropro.2023.106439
"The role of climatic similarity and bridgehead effects in two centuries of trade‐driven global ant invasions", Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association; June 2023. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaa2.75
Insect wood borers on commercial North American tree species growing in China: review of Chinese peer-review and grey literature”, published April 2023 [link: https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvad039]
Exploring pest mitigation research and management associated with the global wood packaging supply chain: What and where are the weak links?” published May 2023 [link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10530-023-03058-8 ]
Historical plant introductions predict current insect invasions”, published April 2023. [link: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2221826120 ]
2022
“Fewer non‐native insects in freshwater than in terrestrial habitats across continents[DEFD1] .” Diversity and Distributions, 28(11), September 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13622
Wood borer detection rates on wood packaging materials entering the United States during different phases of ISPM 15 implementation and regulatory changes”, published December 2022
“Prevalence and drivers of a tree killing bark beetle, Ips typographus (Coleoptera, Scolytinae), in international invasion pathways into the USA”, published September 2022
"Moths and butterflies on alien shores: Global biogeography of non native Lepidoptera", published May 2022
"Alien insect dispersal mediated by the global movement of commodities", published May 2022
“Demography of an invading insect herbivore reunited with hosts and parasitoids from its native range”, published March 2022
“The Global Forest Health Crisis: A Public Good Social Dilemma in Need of International Collective Action”, preprint March 2022
2021
“Introduced plants induce outbreaks of a native pest and facilitate invasion in the plants' native range: Evidence from the emerald ash borer;” published Dec. 2021
“Insect and Disease Disturbances Correlate with Reduced Carbon Sequestration in Forests of the Contiguous United States”, published October 2021
"Invasion disharmony in the global biogeography of native and non-native species;" Published July 2021
"Worldwide border interceptions provide a window into human-mediated global insect movement;" Published July 2021
“Retrospective analysis of factors affecting the distribution of an invasive wood-boring insect using native range data: the importance of host plants;” Published January 2021
“Expanded Foreign Exploration for Natural Enemies of the Emerald Ash Borer;” Published January 2021
“Retrospective analysis of factors affecting the distribution of an invasive wood‑boring insect using native range data: the importance of host plants;” published January 2021
“Biological Invasions and International Trade: Managing a Moving Target;” published winter 2021
2020
"Aggressive tree killer or natural thinning agent? Assessing the impacts of a globally important forest insect;" published December 2020
2019
“Pine defenses against the pitch canker disease are modulated by a native insect newly associated with the invasive fungus;” published April 2019
“The global diversity of Deladenus siricidicola in native and non-native Populations;” published May 2019
“Evolutionary history predicts invasive high-impact herbivorous insect;” published 2019
2018
“Expanded Foreign Exploration for Natural Enemies of the Emerald Ash Borer;” published April 2018
“Two new species of Oobius (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) and their phylogenetic relationship with other congeners from northeastern Asia;” published April 2018
“Two new species of Oobius (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) and their phylogenetic relationship with other congeners from northeastern Asia;” published April 2018
“Forest pests and their management in the Anthropocene;” published March 2018
“Attack rates of Sirex noctilio and patterns of pine tree defenses and mortality in northern Patagonia;” published April 2018
2017
“Predicting North American Scolytinae invasions in the Southern Hemisphere;” published Jan. 2017
2016
“Population biology of the European woodwasp, Sirex noctilio, in Galicia, Spain;” Published Oct. 2016
“Effects of biotic and abiotic factors on phenotypic partitioning of wing morphology and development in Sclerodermus pupariae (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae);” published May 2016
"Intercontinental Comparisons of Ecology and Impacts: European Woodwasp;" published Oct. 2014
2015
“Trade-offs in parasitism efficiency and brood size mediate parasitoid coexistence, with implications for biological control of the invasive emerald ash borer;” published June 2015
“Natural enemies of emerald ash borer (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) in northeast China, with notes on two species of parasitic Coleoptera;” published Dec. 2015
2014
"Intercontinental Comparisons of Ecology and Impacts: European Woodwasp;" Published Oct. 2014
“Host Use Patterns by the European Woodwasp, Sirex noctilio, in Its Native and Invaded Range;” Published March 2014
“Can entomophagous nematodes slow the spread of invasive pest populations? The case study of Beddingia siricidicola released for the management of Sirex noctilio;” Published July 2014
“Sirex noctilio flight behavior: toward improving current monitoring techniques;” Published June 2014
For more information on the Invasive Species Program at Forest Service International Programs, contact Beth Lebow at elizabeth.lebow@usda.gov.