Pathways for accidental biocontrol: the human-mediated dispersal of insect predators and parasitoids

The introduction of insect predators and parasitoids for biological control is a key method for pest management. Yet in recent decades, biological control has become more strictly regulated and less frequent. Conversely, the rate of unintentional insect introductions through human activities is rising. While accidental introductions of insect natural enemies can potentially have serious ecological consequences, they are challenging to quantify as their movements go largely unobserved. We used historical border interception records collected by the US Department of Agriculture from 1913 to 2018 to describe the diversity of entomophagous insects transported unintentionally, their main introduction pathways, and trends in host specificity. There were 35,312 interceptions of insect predators and parasitoids during this period, representing 93 families from 11 orders, and 196 species from these families. Commodity associations varied, but imported plants and plant products were the main intr..., , , # Pathways for accidental biocontrol: the human-mediated dispersal of insect predators and parasitoids

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rjdfn2zjj](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rjdfn2zjj)

This repository contains all the necessary files to carry out the analyses in \"Pathways for accidental biocontrol: the human-mediated dispersal of insect predators and parasitoids.\" The code used is available in the \"script_AB\" R script.

The commodities insects were intercepted are categorised according to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS), a six-digit code where 'HS-2' represents 2-digit 'chapters' describing commodity types (e.g. HS10 - Cereals).

## The data files uploaded are:

families_type.csv - a list of intercepted insect families by order and type (predators or parasitoids).

orders_interceptions.csv - the number of interception events and the number of unique families intercepted per insect order and type.

orders_established.csv - the number of unique families and ...