Cargando…

Can Cities Activate Sleeper Species and Predict Future Forest Pests? A Case Study of Scale Insects

Sleeper species are innocuous native or naturalized species that exhibit invasive characteristics and become pests in response to environmental change. Climate warming is expected to increase arthropod damage in forests, in part, by transforming innocuous herbivores into severe pests: awakening slee...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Frank, Steven D., Just, Michael G.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7142728/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32106554
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11030142
_version_ 1783519449604685824
author Frank, Steven D.
Just, Michael G.
author_facet Frank, Steven D.
Just, Michael G.
author_sort Frank, Steven D.
collection PubMed
description Sleeper species are innocuous native or naturalized species that exhibit invasive characteristics and become pests in response to environmental change. Climate warming is expected to increase arthropod damage in forests, in part, by transforming innocuous herbivores into severe pests: awakening sleeper species. Urban areas are warmer than natural areas due to the urban heat island effect and so the trees and pests in cities already experience temperatures predicted to occur in 50–100 years. We posit that arthropod species that become pests of urban trees are those that benefit from warming and thus should be monitored as potential sleeper species in forests. We illustrate this with two case studies of scale insects that are important pests of urban trees in parts of the US. Melanaspis tenebricosa and Parthenolecanium quercifex are geographically native to the US but take on invasive characteristics such as higher survival and reproduction and become disconnected from natural enemies on urban trees due to the urban heat island effect. This allows them to reach high densities and damage their host trees. Parthenolecanium quercifex density increases up to 12 times on urban willow oaks with just 2 °C of warming due to higher survival and adaptation to warmer temperatures. The urban heat island effect also creates a phenological mismatch between P. quercifex and its parasitoid complex, and so egg production is higher. Melanaspis tenebricosa density can increase 300 times on urban red maples with 2.5 °C of warming. This too is due to direct effects of warmer temperatures on survival and fecundity but M. tenebricosa also benefits from the drought stress incurred by warmer urban trees. These effects combine to increase M. tenebricosa density in forests as well as on urban trees at latitudes higher than its native range. We illustrate how cities provide a unique opportunity to study the complex effects of warming on insect herbivores. Studying pestilent urban species could be a pragmatic approach for identifying and preparing for sleeper species.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7142728
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-71427282020-04-15 Can Cities Activate Sleeper Species and Predict Future Forest Pests? A Case Study of Scale Insects Frank, Steven D. Just, Michael G. Insects Article Sleeper species are innocuous native or naturalized species that exhibit invasive characteristics and become pests in response to environmental change. Climate warming is expected to increase arthropod damage in forests, in part, by transforming innocuous herbivores into severe pests: awakening sleeper species. Urban areas are warmer than natural areas due to the urban heat island effect and so the trees and pests in cities already experience temperatures predicted to occur in 50–100 years. We posit that arthropod species that become pests of urban trees are those that benefit from warming and thus should be monitored as potential sleeper species in forests. We illustrate this with two case studies of scale insects that are important pests of urban trees in parts of the US. Melanaspis tenebricosa and Parthenolecanium quercifex are geographically native to the US but take on invasive characteristics such as higher survival and reproduction and become disconnected from natural enemies on urban trees due to the urban heat island effect. This allows them to reach high densities and damage their host trees. Parthenolecanium quercifex density increases up to 12 times on urban willow oaks with just 2 °C of warming due to higher survival and adaptation to warmer temperatures. The urban heat island effect also creates a phenological mismatch between P. quercifex and its parasitoid complex, and so egg production is higher. Melanaspis tenebricosa density can increase 300 times on urban red maples with 2.5 °C of warming. This too is due to direct effects of warmer temperatures on survival and fecundity but M. tenebricosa also benefits from the drought stress incurred by warmer urban trees. These effects combine to increase M. tenebricosa density in forests as well as on urban trees at latitudes higher than its native range. We illustrate how cities provide a unique opportunity to study the complex effects of warming on insect herbivores. Studying pestilent urban species could be a pragmatic approach for identifying and preparing for sleeper species. MDPI 2020-02-25 /pmc/articles/PMC7142728/ /pubmed/32106554 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11030142 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Frank, Steven D.
Just, Michael G.
Can Cities Activate Sleeper Species and Predict Future Forest Pests? A Case Study of Scale Insects
title Can Cities Activate Sleeper Species and Predict Future Forest Pests? A Case Study of Scale Insects
title_full Can Cities Activate Sleeper Species and Predict Future Forest Pests? A Case Study of Scale Insects
title_fullStr Can Cities Activate Sleeper Species and Predict Future Forest Pests? A Case Study of Scale Insects
title_full_unstemmed Can Cities Activate Sleeper Species and Predict Future Forest Pests? A Case Study of Scale Insects
title_short Can Cities Activate Sleeper Species and Predict Future Forest Pests? A Case Study of Scale Insects
title_sort can cities activate sleeper species and predict future forest pests? a case study of scale insects
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7142728/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32106554
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11030142
work_keys_str_mv AT frankstevend cancitiesactivatesleeperspeciesandpredictfutureforestpestsacasestudyofscaleinsects
AT justmichaelg cancitiesactivatesleeperspeciesandpredictfutureforestpestsacasestudyofscaleinsects