Asian longhorned beetle complicates the relationship between taxonomic diversity and pest vulnerability in street tree assemblages. Issue 1 (2nd January 2016)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Asian longhorned beetle complicates the relationship between taxonomic diversity and pest vulnerability in street tree assemblages. Issue 1 (2nd January 2016)
- Main Title:
- Asian longhorned beetle complicates the relationship between taxonomic diversity and pest vulnerability in street tree assemblages
- Authors:
- Berland, Adam
Hopton, Matthew E. - Abstract:
- Abstract : Urban foresters routinely emphasise the importance of taxonomic diversity to reduce the vulnerability of tree assemblages to invasive pests, but it is unclear to what extent diversity reduces vulnerability to polyphagous (i.e. generalist) pests. Drawing on field data from seven communities in metropolitan Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, we tested the hypothesis that communities with higher diversity would exhibit lower vulnerability to the polyphagous Asian longhorned beetle, which currently threatens the region. Based on street tree compositions and the beetle's host preferences, Asian longhorned beetle threatened up to 35.6% of individual street trees and 47.5% of the total basal area across the study area, but we did not see clear connections between taxonomic diversity and beetle vulnerability among study communities. For example, the city of Fairfield was among the least diverse communities but had the lowest proportion of trees vulnerable to Asian longhorned beetle, whereas the city of Wyoming exhibited high diversity and high vulnerability. On the other hand, Forest Park aligned with our original hypothesis, as it was characterised by low diversity and high vulnerability. Our results demonstrate that relatively high taxonomic diversity in street tree assemblages does not necessarily lead to reduced vulnerability to a polyphagous pest. Considering the threats posed by polyphagous pests, selecting a set of relatively pest resistant trees known to perform well in urbanAbstract : Urban foresters routinely emphasise the importance of taxonomic diversity to reduce the vulnerability of tree assemblages to invasive pests, but it is unclear to what extent diversity reduces vulnerability to polyphagous (i.e. generalist) pests. Drawing on field data from seven communities in metropolitan Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, we tested the hypothesis that communities with higher diversity would exhibit lower vulnerability to the polyphagous Asian longhorned beetle, which currently threatens the region. Based on street tree compositions and the beetle's host preferences, Asian longhorned beetle threatened up to 35.6% of individual street trees and 47.5% of the total basal area across the study area, but we did not see clear connections between taxonomic diversity and beetle vulnerability among study communities. For example, the city of Fairfield was among the least diverse communities but had the lowest proportion of trees vulnerable to Asian longhorned beetle, whereas the city of Wyoming exhibited high diversity and high vulnerability. On the other hand, Forest Park aligned with our original hypothesis, as it was characterised by low diversity and high vulnerability. Our results demonstrate that relatively high taxonomic diversity in street tree assemblages does not necessarily lead to reduced vulnerability to a polyphagous pest. Considering the threats posed by polyphagous pests, selecting a set of relatively pest resistant trees known to perform well in urban areas may promote long-term stability better than following simple heuristics for maximising taxonomic diversity, but further study is warranted. … (more)
- Is Part Of:
- Arboricultural journal. Volume 38:Issue 1(2016)
- Journal:
- Arboricultural journal
- Issue:
- Volume 38:Issue 1(2016)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 38, Issue 1 (2016)
- Year:
- 2016
- Volume:
- 38
- Issue:
- 1
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2016-0038-0001-0000
- Page Start:
- 28
- Page End:
- 40
- Publication Date:
- 2016-01-02
- Subjects:
- Asian longhorned beetle -- diversity -- invasive pests -- street trees
Arboriculture -- Periodicals
Trees -- Periodicals
Trees -- Great Britain -- Periodicals
634.9 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.tandfonline.com/TARB ↗
http://search.ebscohost.com/direct.asp?db=eih&jid=LYD&scope=site ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/03071375.2016.1157305 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0307-1375
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 1593.810000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 2772.xml