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Invasive Fruit, Cone and Seed Insects in the Mediterranean Basin

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Book cover Insects and Diseases of Mediterranean Forest Systems

Abstract

Invasive fruit, cone and seed insects are considered the most important predators of tree seeds during the pre-dispersal phase of development. Although some species benefited from historical human movements across the Mediterranean Basin, the accelerating rate of international trade, travel and transport of wood products, including seeds, during the latter half of the twentieth century has increased the introduction of alien fruit, cone and seed insects in this area. The combination of almost inexistent phytosanitary regulations of tree seed trades and species biological characteristics favouring human-aided dispersal had a key role in successful invasions of Mediterranean forest ecosystems. Invasions may affect plant populations through increased direct trophic interactions such as seed parasitism and destruction, which can result in more complex indirect effects on natural regeneration processes. Many of the trees cone and seed insects feed upon have also been introduced by humans, but introduced insect species also may switch to native tree species congeneric to their original host and are then likely to interact with native seed feeders. In this chapter, we gathered current knowledge on seven insect species with invasive populations in the Mediterranean Basin. We put an emphasis on: (i) both anthropogenic and biological features involved in such invasion pathways, (ii) the ecological mechanisms involved in the establishment and the spread of invasive populations, (iii) the impacts of alien invasive species on Mediterranean ecosystems, and (iv) the issues related to the management of invasions in the fruit, cone and seed insect group.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This term refers to both spermatophage and external seed predator feeding guilds defined in Chap. 4.

  2. 2.

    See Chap. 4 for definitions of the terms used.

  3. 3.

    Primary or hyper parasitoids.

  4. 4.

    Insects spending their entire pre-imaginal development (egg to pupa) within the fruiting structure.

  5. 5.

    Mainly used in commercial seed market for plantations and ornamentals.

  6. 6.

    Resource availability may depend the presence of native competitors and on spatio-temporal variation in fruiting structure abundance.

  7. 7.

    Native species may be associated with facilitation, competition or predation.

  8. 8.

    See Chap. 4 about host plant specialization in fruiting structure insects.

  9. 9.

    Unlike most other fruiting structure insects that develop inside the cones or the seeds (see Chap. 4).

  10. 10.

    Because they did not successfully established or they were not introduced.

  11. 11.

    Seedborne dispersal is referred to as man-aided displacement of infested seeds through seed trade.

  12. 12.

    See Chap. 4 about the adaptive significance of prolonged diapause in populations of fruiting structure insects.

  13. 13.

    See Chap. 4.

  14. 14.

    See Sect. 9.4.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UR633 Zoologie Forestière, INRA, 45075, Orléans, France

    Marie-Anne Auger-Rozenberg

  2. INRA, UR629 Ecologie des Forêts Méditerranéennes, Site Agroparc, 84914, Avignon cedex 9, France

    Thomas Boivin

Authors
  1. Marie-Anne Auger-Rozenberg
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  2. Thomas Boivin
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Correspondence to Marie-Anne Auger-Rozenberg .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA

    Timothy D. Paine

  2. Faculté des Sciences, Université d’Orléans, Orléans Cedex 2, France

    Francois Lieutier

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Auger-Rozenberg, MA., Boivin, T. (2016). Invasive Fruit, Cone and Seed Insects in the Mediterranean Basin. In: Paine, T., Lieutier, F. (eds) Insects and Diseases of Mediterranean Forest Systems. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24744-1_9

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