Print PageNon-indigenous forest insects and pathogens affect a range of ecosystems, industries, and communities in the United States. Evaluating temporal patterns in the accumulation of non-indigenous forest pests and quantifying their impacts and costs are critical to informing regulatory and policy decisions. We compiled a comprehensive species list to assess the accumulation rate of non-indigenous forest insects and pathogens established in the US. We combined this with economic assessments of “poster pests” and a novel Bayesian modeling approach to estimate costs while accounting for uncertainty. We separated our analysis by pest guilds and cost categories and calculated total costs.
Results/Conclusions
Approximately 2.5 established non-indigenous forest insects were detected in the US annually between 1860 and 2006. At least 14% of these insects and all 16 pathogens have caused notable damage to trees. Detections of insects that feed on phloem or wood have increased markedly in recent years; At more than $1.7 billion per year, these insects are also causing an order of magnitude more economic damage than the other guilds. Homeowners and local governments are bearing the brunt of the costs of non-indigenous forest insects. Our damage estimates provide a crucial but previously missing component of cost-benefit analyses to evaluate policies and management options intended to reduce species introductions. The modeling approach we developed is highly flexible and could be similarly employed to estimate damages in other countries or natural resource sectors.
