Biotic threats for 23 major non-native tree species in Europe

Elisabeth Pötzelsberger,Andrej Kormuťák,Srđan Keren,Glória Pinto,Björn Hoppe,Ludwig Beenken,Michael Power,Hervé Jactel,Johanna Witzell,Marı́a J Lombardero ,Sophie Stroheker,B Perny ,Mihai‐Leonard Duduman ,Josef Urban,Elodie Bay,Michal Petr,K Voolma ,Radosław Puchałka ,Martin M Goßner ,Paul D Taylor ,P Tsopelas ,Rasmus Enderle,Kristjan Jarni,Marcin Koprowski,Hans Peter Ravn,Anna Gazda,Per Nygaard ,Maarten De Groot,Tiina Ylioja,Vitas Marozas,Маргарита Георгиева ,Zsolt Keserű ,Aljona Lukjanova,Maria Cristina Monteverdi,Dimitrios Ν Avtzis ,Ignacio Sevillano,Olga Zborovska,Rein Drenkhan,Ari M Hietala,Christophe Orazio,Edurad Mauri,Nikica Ogris,Nicola La Porta,Marjana Westergren,Nicolai Olenici,Milica Zlatković

doi:10.1038/s41597-021-00961-4

Abstract

For non-native tree species with an origin outside of Europe a detailed compilation of enemy species including the severity of their attack is lacking up to now. We collected information on native and non-native species attacking non-native trees, i.e. type, extent and time of first observation of damage for 23 important non-native trees in 27 European countries. Our database includes about 2300 synthesised attack records (synthesised per biotic threat, tree and country) from over 800 species. Insects (49%) and fungi (45%) are the main observed biotic threats, but also arachnids, bacteria including phytoplasmas, mammals, nematodes, plants and viruses have been recorded. This information will be valuable to identify patterns and drivers of attacks, and trees with a lower current health risk to be considered for planting. In addition, our database will provide a baseline to which future impacts on non-native tree species could be compared with and thus will allow to analyse temporal trends of impacts.

Highlights

Background & SummaryHundreds of tree species have been introduced to Europe over the last few hundred years
By providing important baseline information the data will serve to compare future data with and allow to analyse temporal trends of impacts of pest species on non-native trees. Not least this database allows to identify trees with a lower current health risk to be considered for planting, while we acknowledge that the plant health situation is not static and new or more severe attacks may occur for different reasons, e.g., through imported or naturally arriving non-native pests or pathogens, or caused by climate change or by additional host shifts, which may occur with considerably prolonged cultivation time or area of cultivation[4,5]
The impact was either reported by a reliable forester but could not be reviewed and verified by an expert or it was published in a professional journal, but it is not clear from the publication that it was checked by an expert; ‘low’ - Low quality data sources of impact