Successful biological control of winter moth, Operophtera brumata, in the northeastern United States

Winter moth, Operophtera brumata, native to Europe, invaded the northeastern United States in the late 1990s, where it caused widespread defoliation of forests and shade trees ranging from 2,266 to 36,360 ha per year between 2003 and 2015 in Massachusetts. In 2005, we initiated a biological control effort based on the specialist tachinid parasitoid Cyzenis albicans, which had previously been introduced along with the generalist ichneumonid parasitoid Agrypon flaveolatum to control winter moth in Nova Scotia in the 1950s and British Columbia in the 1970s. Due to concerns of possible non-target impacts by A. flaveolatum, we focused entirely on the specialist C. albicans. Each year for 14 years, we collected several thousand individuals of C. albicans from British Columbia and released them across widely-spaced sites in the northeastern United States. As of 2020, we had established C. albicans at 41 of 44 sites from coastal Maine to southeastern Connecticut. By 2016 winter moth densities (...

冬尺蛾（Winter moth，学名*Operophtera brumata*）原产于欧洲，于20世纪90年代末入侵美国东北部。2003至2015年间，马萨诸塞州每年因该虫造成的森林及遮荫树普遍落叶面积达2266至36360公顷。2005年，我们以专性寄蝇科寄生蜂（specialist tachinid parasitoid）雪白扁股寄蝇（Cyzenis albicans）为核心天敌，启动了冬尺蛾的生物防治项目——该寄生蜂曾与广性姬蜂科寄生蜂（generalist ichneumonid parasitoid）黄纹姬蜂（Agrypon flaveolatum）一同，于20世纪50年代被引入新斯科舍省、70年代被引入不列颠哥伦比亚省，用于当地冬尺蛾的防治。鉴于A. flaveolatum可能引发非靶标影响的顾虑，本次防治工作仅聚焦于专性寄生蜂C. albicans。在14年的研究周期内，我们每年从不列颠哥伦比亚省采集数千只C. albicans个体，并在美国东北部空间间隔较大的多个样点开展释放工作。截至2020年，我们已在从缅因州沿海至康涅狄格州东南部的44个样点中的41个成功定殖C. albicans。至2016年，冬尺蛾种群密度（……）