Early detection of potentially dangerous invasive insect pests through accurate identification and delimiting surveys. This allows for rapid responses in mitigating these biological invasions and protecting our plant resources.

Port-of-entries along the northeastern and northwestern seaboards are especially vulnerable to invasion by exotic organisms. Accurate and timely identification of potential pest threats is a key element for distinguishing exotic species from native ones and for establishing containment and management programs. To date, nearly 2,500 exotic species of insects have invaded North America (over the past 500 years), and many of these, in fact over 400, have become serious pests of forest trees and woody shrubs. Several of these pests have significantly altered forest ecosystems in the United States such as the Gypsy moth and the hemlock woolly adelgid. As world trade and international travel continue to grow, the threat of new invasions also increases. Many of the alien tree-infesting insects that enter the U.S. each year are generally associated with solid wood packing material such as crating, pallets, and dunnage (i.e., the wood bracing used to support cargoes); others are unintentionally introduced as stowaways associated with various cargo and commodities. Two recent exotic hitchhikers in the U.S. - the Asian longhorned beetle and Emerald Ash Borer - were both likely introduced with infested wooden articles being shipped to the U.S. from China. The risk that these new forest pests pose can only be minimized through close inspections of crated cargo entering the U.S., stricter regulations, and, most importantly, rigorous surveys (visual and bait/lure traps) to detect newly established exotic pests.

E. R. Hoebeke's research focuses on documenting the arrival and spread of foreign insect pests in the United States. His federally funded Hatch project involves survey sampling and insect collecting in and around high-risk port-of-entry sites in the northeastern United States, eastern Canada, and the Pacific Northwest. The majority of these sites are in and around major seaports and airports, and particularly in disturbed industrial sites and railroad right-of-ways near warehouses of port-of-entries. A thorough knowledge of the native insect fauna is imperative in order to identify the alien element that might be established and co-occurring with the native species. Very often, alien invasions go unnoticed until ecological and economic impacts are recognized. Therefore, rigorous surveys, by highly trained taxonomists, are necessary to make rapid detection of potential pests a reality. The goals of this project are early detection of immigrant agricultural and forest pests, evaluation of their pest status, and implementation of control or eradication programs. These detection and survey activities are integral to the various safeguarding programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets, and the National and Regional Plant Boards. In 2006, a major focus was on the detection of and survey for exotic tree-infesting pests in the Northeast, especially longhorned beetles, bark and ambrosia beetles, and other alien species that impact trees and shrubs.

The most visible impact(s) that these detection/survey efforts have had are best exemplified by various new pest discoveries that have resulted. For example, the first time discovery of the Asian longhorned beetle ((i)Anoplophora glabripennis(/i)) in New York (initial identification made at Cornell by Hoebeke) in 1996 led to its ultimate detection in other areas in the greater New York City region, Long Island, and Chicago. Today, nearly ten years after its detection, this serious forest pest, a native of China, has cost millions of dollars for its control and eradication efforts from these urban landscapes. Over 7,000 infested trees from these combined areas have been removed and destroyed; with many more hundreds of susceptible trees being removed from the Toronto and Carteret, New Jersey quarantine sites in hopes of preventing the spread of this invasive beetle. A USDA strategic plan for the eradication of Asian longhorned beetle from New York and Chicago is expected to cost U.S. stakeholders nearly $365 million and take nearly 10 years to do so. In the past few years, other exotic wood-boring beetles and bark beetles have been identified as new to North America. Recently, another invasive tree-killing pest has been detected in New York State as a result of the state`s CAPS program (and my initial identification). Sirex noctilio, an Old World woodwasp, was discovered in Fulton, NY, in late 2004. An extensive delimiting survey (trapping program) for this species in 2005 confirmed its establishment and presence in 5 central New York counties; in 2006 a comprehensive trapping survey conducted throughout the state and adjacent NE states found its geographic range to include 25 western and central NY counties and 2 northern PA counties. Biological control efforts are being implemented.

Safeguarding American Agriculture and Forestry

A. G. Wheeler, Jr. (Dept. of Entomology, Clemson University)