Advancing invasive pests and pathogens are novel species often moving northward from warmer climates. As temperatures increase across the region and ecological communities shift, invasive species from the South and Midwest are able to colonize northeastern forest systems. Novel introductions of pest often lead to severe defoliation and tree mortality due to lack of natural biological controls and unanticipated, irregular life cycle dynamics. Tracking the advance of novel invasive species can help quantify the impact of this disturbance on forest systems, particularly, seedling and sapling regeneration. High priority pest/pathogen species included here are Southern Pine Beetle, Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, and Emerald Ash Borer. Others, such as beech leaf disease and oak wilt, are increasingly of concern, but do not yet have enough of a presence in the region to have sufficient data to analyze. Due to the fairly recent introduction of these pests into the region, we did not include frequency in the analysis.
Southern Pine Beetle
Southern pine beetle (SPB) is a small bark beetle that is native to the southeastern US and primarily infects pine trees, but may also damage hemlock and spruce. Its range has expanded eastward as temperatures warm in the region. In the southwest, fires play a key role in mitigating the impacts of SPB by thinning pine stands and disrupting pheromone communication among SPB populations. It is anticipated that as the climate of the northeast continues to change and warm, southern pine beetle will become and increased concern. Using the 100 years of data provided by the FEMC Northeastern Forest Health Atlas – a standardized collection of Aerial Survey Data – we extracted records of damage by southern pine beetle across the region.
As a relatively new species to the northeast, the historical record of southern pine beetle damage only goes back to 2015.
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