4:44 a.m.
Dear IUFRO FRIENDS
Please consider attending the upcoming FABI International Seminar (29th April at 16h00 GMT
+2) to be presented by Dr Andrew (Sandy) Liebhold. Sandy is very well known to the IUFRO
Community having (for example) served Division 7 (Tree Health) Co-ordinator and Chair of
the Scientific Committee for our 125th Anniversary Congress in Freiburg in 2017. If you
are interested in tree health, biological invasions or forests and forestry in general -
this will be a seminar for you to enjoy.
To attend, it is necessary to register -please do so at
https://www.fabinet.up.ac.za/index.php/event/FABISerminarSeries/
Background information on Sandy’s talk can be found below and details of the FABI
International Seminar Series is on the web site above.
Best regards
Mike
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April, 2021
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Speaker: Dr Andrew Liebhold, US Forest Service Northern Research Station, Morgantown, WV
USA
Title: Macroecology of Insect Invasions
Date: 29 April 2021 Time: 16:00 (GMT+2)
Abstract: Biological invasions are largely an unintended consequence of globalization.
With increasing mobility, humans have accidentally transported organisms around the world,
breaking the geographical boundaries that separated species ranges that persisted for
millions of years of evolution. Among animals, the insecta is the most species-rich class,
with thousands of insect species having been established outside of their native ranges
and many of these species causing immense impacts on agriculture, human health and
conservation of native ecosystems. Here, I report on a macroecological analysis of
historical insect invasions spanning 300 years and 10 world regions. These data are used
to compare frequencies of invasions among different insect orders and among different
insect families. Species-area relationships for native insect assemblages are generally
stronger than for non-native insect assemblages. Certain groups, such as the Hemiptera,
Formicidae and the Staphylinidae are generally over-represented in non-native insect
assemblages, while other taxa are under-represented. These patterns generally reflect
characteristics of these insects that cause them to enter important invasion pathways and
biological characteristics that facilitate invasions. These results ultimately allow us to
better understand the socio-economic drivers of insect invasions and can be of use when
conducting invasive pest risk analysis.
Biography: Andrew “Sandy” Liebhold has been a research entomologist with the US Forest
Service Northern Research Station, Morgantown, WV USA since 1988. His research focuses on
the ecology and management of biological invasions and the spatial dynamics of insect
outbreaks. Liebhold received his PhD in Entomology from the University of California,
Berkeley in 1984 and worked as a postdoctoral at the University of Massachusetts before
joining the Forest Service. He is a fellow of the AAAS and serves on the editorial board
of the journals Population Ecology and Biological Invasions. He also currently serves as a
scientific coordinator with the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Science, Czech University of
Life Sciences Prague and a visiting scholar with Scion Research in New Zealand.
This message and attachments are subject to a disclaimer.
Please refer to http://upnet.up.ac.za/services/it/documentation/docs/004167.pdf for full
details.
