When insects follow plants: Comparing niche space utilization of Phragmites herbivores in Europe vs. North America

Understanding how insect herbivores attack and impact plants within both their native and introduced ranges helps predict the efficacy and environmental safety of biological control agents pre-release, while also providing important baseline information necessary for post-release monitoring.  Here, I present the results of a long-term, multi-decadal monitoring dataset of insect communities and metrics of Phragmites australis performance of more than 100 P. australis populations across both its native European and introduced North American ranges.  Understanding the ecology of insect communities of Phragmites australis is particularly relevant, as two extremely host-specific stem-mining noctuid moths (Archanara geminipuncta and A. neurica) have recently been released in Canada to control this species.  Further, two subspecies of Phragmites co-occur in North America: an invasive subspecies of European origin (Phragmites australis subsp. australis) and a native subspecies of North American origin (Phragmites australis subsp. americanus).  Thus, we have a unique opportunity to test ecological theory by comparing two sets of closely related plant species that have experienced two different evolutionary histories.  To this end, we estimated the attack rates, assemblage patterns, and impact of insects on P. australis across multiple spatial scales (within-stem, within-population, and within-region) across central Europe and North America.  Our data emphasizes how integrating ecological theory with long-term monitoring of insect communities can help evaluate the success of biological control of weeds through space and time.