Chemically-mediated trophic interactions of invasive herbivorous insects and their applications for monitoring and management

Authors: Leskey, Tracy; CARNIO, VERONICA - Free University Of Bozen-Bolzano; NIXON, LAURA - Rutgers University

Submitted to: Current Opinion in Insect Science
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/10/2025
Publication Date: 4/3/2025
Citation: Leskey, T.C., Carnio, V., Nixon, L.J. 2025. Chemically-mediated trophic interactions of invasive herbivorous insects and their applications for monitoring and management. Current Opinion in Insect Science. 69. Article 101364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2025.101364.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2025.101364

Interpretive Summary: When invasive pests emerge in agriculture, it is critical that monitoring and biosurveillance tools are quickly developed to detect spread and damaging populations, and to generate management tools that are effective, but less disruptive than frequent insecticide applications. For plant-feeding insects, identification of attractive chemical compounds to use as attractants in traps or as part of an attract-and-kill strategy can be relatively easy but can present challenges for others. If the invasive pest shares chemical cues with native species, this can lead to large numbers of non-target captures in traps, for example. In other cases, identification of pheromonal odors that are combined with plant-based attractants can lead to effective monitoring and management strategies. In the event that no clear plant-odor based tools are available, applied molecular tools such as detection of DNA left behind by the insect in the environment (eDNA) and analysis of plant DNA present in the insect gut can fill these voids.

Technical Abstract: Invasive species are exotic organisms introduced into a new ecosystem where they can inflict economic and ecological harm or impacts on human health. Invasive herbivorous insects have significantly disrupted agricultural and forest ecosystems. Sources of stimuli used for monitoring and biosurveillance tools or as the basis for management strategies involve chemically-mediated interactions between the insect and key primary producers (plants) or secondary consumers (predators and parasites). While successful application of chemicals identified from these interactions have emerged for some species with a few multi-trophic interactions identified, other systems remain challenging, particularly, when native species share similar chemically-mediated cues. Applied molecular technologies such as environmental DNA or gut content analyses can be used to gain further insight into multitrophic interactions, which could potentially lead to improved chemical mediations tools.