CAREER: Phenology, international trade, and the temporal aspects of intercontinental dispersal by insect herbivores

Human-aided movement of insects across and between continents has increased rapidly with globalization. This has resulted in the introduction of highly damaging, non-native insects that impact ecosystem health, natural resource management, and human well-being. Given the multifaceted and catastrophic effects of biological invasions, substantial efforts have been devoted to understanding the factors that enable a species to arrive and establish in a new location. Changes over time in the invasion patterns of bark and wood boring insects have been particularly well studied – this group of insects is closely associated with international trade due to their presence in wood packaging materials (e.g., crates, pallets, dunnage) and includes species capable of causing widespread forest mortality. It remains unclear, however, how the arrival of bark and wood boring insects at finer time scales (e.g., season to season) affects their ability to invade. The goals of this work are to determine the role that seasonality plays in shaping the arrival of bark and wood boring insects, evaluate how arrival timing influences their ability to establish, and, ultimately, strengthen biosecurity measures to protect agriculture, urban, and rural forests from insect damage. Broader impacts include the dissemination of educational materials to the public to broaden awareness of invasive species, increased participation in STEM via a high school internship, and new curriculum for enrollees in an online plant health management program. Increased invasion rates by insects over the past several decades have been partly attributed to the growing use of wood packaging materials, a ubiquitous component of containerized cargo that functions as the main mechanism of arrival for bark and wood-boring species. Whereas the annual to decadal changes in invasion patterns by bark and woodboring insects have been well studied, the timing of intercontinental species movement at finer temporal scales (e.g., season to season) has received comparably little attention. This research will evaluate broad patterns in bark and wood borer arrival by season, leverage historical data on selected species to explore factors that shape arrival success, and quantify the probability of establishment for selected species given their arrival at various time points throughout the year. The following hypotheses will be tested using laboratory, field, greenhouse, and modeling studies: (1) arrival of bark and wood boring insects occurs year-round but shows a pronounced decrease in spring and summer, (2) rates of insect development drive the timing (e.g., month) of arrival, a pattern further structured by linkages among arrival location, departure location, and time of transit, and (3) the likelihood of establishment in the recipient ecosystem will be significantly elevated during short windows of opportunity in spring. Testing these hypotheses will elucidate how the risk of arrival and establishment by bark and wood boring beetles changes throughout the year and further clarify the role of seasonality in insect invasions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. NSF Award ID: 2542176 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT,01003031DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Samuel Ward | Institution: OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, THE, COLUMBUS, OH | Award Amount: $653,951 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2542176 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2542176.html