Data from: Evidence of spatial synchrony in the spread of an invasive forest pest

Because population growth is a key component of range expansion, spatial
synchrony in population growth along a species’ range edge may lead to
spatial synchrony in range expansion. However, demographic stochasticity
in low-density range-edge populations and stochastic long-distance
dispersal may disrupt the synchronization of range expansion. Here, we
investigate whether rates of spread by an invasive species, the spongy
moth, exhibit spatial synchrony. We also evaluate if climatic oscillations
at multi-annual timescales arising from teleconnections synchronize spread
at similar timescales. We applied extensions of wavelet analysis to
spatiotemporal data on climate variables and range-edge abundances during
1990-2020. Synchrony in spread occurred throughout the entire study area,
and in the northernmost and southernmost ecoregions, synchrony in spread
was explained by multi-annual climate oscillations linked to
teleconnection patterns. We demonstrate spatial synchrony in invasive
spread and find an opportunity to predict the timing of pulses of invasive
spread at regional scales.