UC ANR Lunchtime Talk Webinar- Anticipating the Next Invasive Threat to California

https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Invasives/Action-Week

Anticipating the Next Invasive Threat to California

Presented by Dr. Mark Hoddle

In his 2023 paper “A New Paradigm: Proactive Biological Control of Invasive Insect Pests,” Dr. Mark Hoddle notes that 44% of invasive species that establish in California originate from invasion bridgeheads established elsewhere in the US and Canada, Dr. Hoddle advocates for conducting “horizon scans” for “door knocker” species that have already established those invasion bridgeheads and are exhibiting a propensity for spread. In the case of spotted lanternfly, which is well established in the Northeastern US, researchers used horizon scanning , determined the potential threat to California agriculture, sourced an egg parasitoid directly from China for potential use as a biological control agent and assessed the parasitoid’s  host range and host specificity prior to the arrival of spotted lanternfly in California – keep in mind that it has not yet established here. Dr. Hoddle further suggests that we also should be scanning for unknown or unpredictable entities that fall into the “emerging invasive species” category prior to them establishing “invasion bridgeheads” and becoming obvious “door knockers” which could be done by focusing on pests at the point of origin for crops that are imported here in large volumes.