Hitchin’ a Ride: A Review of Firewood as a Vector of Forest Pests in North America
Human-mediated movement is a major way in which forest pests get from one place to another. Many pests that live in or on wood can be unknowingly moved in firewood. A new review in the Journal of Economic Entomology looks at what we know about forest pest movement in firewood, and what we can do about it.
Another Invasive Mosquito Species Arrives in Florida
The mosquito species Aedes scapularis had been previously detected in Florida just once, in 1945, but a new study of mosquitoes collected in 2020 has discovered that Aedes scapularis is now established on mainland Florida in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
A Fast, Frassy Way to Detect the Asian Longhorned Beetle
Researchers in Italy have developed a rapid method for detection of the Asian longhorned beetle, an invasive pest in Europe and North America, using a DNA-detection technique known as loop-mediated isothermal amplification.
How Mitochondrial DNA Offers Clues to Giant Hornets’ Invasion
When scientists discovered specimens of the invasive giant hornet Vespa mandarinia on both sides of the border between Washington and British Columbia in 2019, they sought to find out how they arrived from Asia. Analysis of their mitochondrial DNA provided an interesting twist: The hornets on each side of the border likely did not come from the same location in Asia.