Urban environments have species-specific associations with invasive insect herbivores

Urban areas are expanding rapidly, with the majority of the global and US population inhabiting them. Urban forests are critically important for providing ecosystem services to the growing urban populace, but their health is threatened by invasive insects. Insect density and damage are highly variable in different sites across urban landscapes, such that trees in some sites experience outbreaks and are severely damaged while others are relatively unaffected. To protect urban forests against damage from invasive insects and support future delivery of ecosystem services, we must first understand the factors that affect insect density and damage to their hosts across urban landscapes. This study explores how a variety of environmental factors that vary across urban habitats influence density of invasive insects. Specifically, we evaluate how vegetational complexity, distance to buildings, impervious surface, canopy temperature, host availability, and density of co-occurring herbivores impa...