Pest Invasions Could Rise in Western Europe

Western Europe watch out. New research suggests that insect pest invasions in Europe will get worse due to the rising global trade of agricultural products, cultivation of host plants and changing climate.

According to scientists from the University of Fribourg, the Swiss Research Station Agroscope ART and the University of Neuenburg, all three of the aforementioned factors will play a role in the increase of insect pests in Europe, but the most crucial component, the researchers determined, is the size of the area under cultivation of host plants.

The researchers said Italy, France, Spain, Hungary and Germany are "most likely to become the next 'victims' of an invasion by insect pests."

Among the most likely invaders are: Oriental Cotton Leafworm (Spodoptera litura), the Northern Corn Rootworm (Diabrotica barberi) and the Sugarbeet Wireworm (Pheletes californicus), the researchers said in a statement.

The researchers highlighted the increased exposure to pest invasions faced by non-Eastern European countries, noting that in Eastern Europe the risk of insect pest invasion may even decrease.

"These results have the potential to aid national plant protection authorities in, for example, developing specific control strategies geared to the level of risk of the affected countries," the researchers wrote in a statement.

The latest research follows up a prior study that linked defective border control, especially relating to agricultural products, can lead to invasions of insects pests in Europe.

The new paper, titled "Quarantine arthropod invasions in Europe: the role of climate, hosts and propagule pressure" is published in published in the journal Diversity and Distributions.