A new tool for directing management efforts of invasive forest pests

Title: A new tool for directing management efforts of invasive forest pests

Author: Tea Ammunét, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

Anthropogenic actions have influenced the rapid increase of forest pest invasions during the last century. Still most of the comprehensive literature on invasiveness is based on examples from plants and only few selected insect examples have been included. A recent effort was made at an international workshop entitled “Invasive pests and pathogens – a potential threat to our future forests” to gather invasive forest pests and pathogens under a common framework explaining both global and regional invasions in a simple but quantifiable way. The two components of the framework, arrival and invasibility, are flexible enough to be applied to many organisms. Species specific characteristics can, however, be included in the second regional component, invasibility. Interactions between the organism and its abiotic and biotic environment are quantified and presented in a simple visual way, from where the magnitude and thus the relative importance of each interaction can be quickly noted. Therefore, management efforts towards invasive pests can also be more easily directed, after the most important interactions influencing the invasion have been identified. I will shortly present the ideas behind the two components of the framework. In addition, I will demonstrate how invasiveness can be visually expressed, using the winter moth (Operophtera brumata L., Lepidoptera: Geometridae) as an example invasive species, and how the visual presentation can easily be interpreted by decision makers in order to direct the management efforts more precisely.