Population and community ecology of the brown spruce longhorn beetle

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With increasing global trade, invasive alien forest insects have become agents of severe ecological and economic disturbance in North American forests. The emerald ash borer (native to the Far East) and the brown spruce longhorn beetle (native to Eastern Europe) are two examples of tree-killing insects that have recently established in Eastern Canada. These insects are not pests in their native range but cause tree mortality in Canada as a result of novel ecological interactions that lack regulatory controls and permit population explosions. My research investigates the ecology and behaviour of tree-killing insects, their host trees and natural enemies with the goal of understanding why and how endemic populations transition into epidemics.