A whole system approach to understand an insect invasion in naïve forests and habitats

Biological invasions of naïve habitats by exotic insects have been reported in many parts of the world. These invasions have caused considerable damage, and in many cases, the damage was greater in the introduced range than in the native range of the pest. As a new faculty, I have been primarily focusing on the invasion biology and ecology of forest insects (e.g., bark and wood boring beetles, forest defoliators) of temperate tree species (pines, ash, oaks, etc.). My investigations centered around the field of chemical ecology have focused on the following five questions: (1) Does tree defence mechanism vary in response to invasion by forest insect herbivores and diseases? (2) What are the consequences of tree defences in short & long-term fitness of invading forest insect herbivores? (3) Does invasion of a host plant by one organism (i.e., insect) affect the subsequent host suitability for the subsequent attacker (i.e., fungus)? (4) What roles do environment and climate play in altering tree defence mechanisms against invasion by forest insect herbivores? (5) How do host availability and suitability affect short & long-term population dynamics of forest insect herbivores and their insect natural enemies? In my presentation, I will briefly summarize how I have approach to deal with these questions in several interdisciplinary and collaborative research projects.