Divergent Trends in Insect Disturbance Across Europe's Temperate and Boreal Forests

Ongoing shifts in climate and land use have altered interactions between trees and insect herbivores, changing biotic disturbance regimes. However, as these changes are complex and vary across host species, insect taxa, and feeding guilds, they remain poorly understood. We compiled annual records of forest insect disturbance from 15 countries in temperate and boreal Europe, spanning the period from 2000 to 2022. The dataset comprises 1361 time series characterizing the dynamics of 50 herbivorous insects. We used this dataset to test whether insect disturbance has systematically changed during the 23-year period across host trees and feeding guilds, whether it varies along latitudinal and climatic gradients, and whether synchrony exists among species in the same guild or among species sharing the same host. Since 2000, borer disturbance was predominantly concentrated on gymnosperms, while defoliators impacted gymnosperms and angiosperms more evenly. While 85.8% of gymnosperm disturbance was inflicted by a single species, Ips typographus, the majority of disturbances to angiosperms were caused by six different species. Borer impact on gymnosperms has increased in the 21st century, while defoliator impact has decreased across both clades. In contrast to diverging temporal trends, disturbance was consistently greater in warmer and drier conditions across feeding guilds and host types. We identified significant synchrony in insect disturbance within host types and feeding guilds but not between these groups, suggesting shared drivers within guilds and host types. Increasing insect disturbance to gymnosperms may catalyze adaptive transformations in Europe's forests, promoting a shift from historical conifer-dominated management to broadleaved trees, which are less affected by insect herbivores. Our findings reveal a diversity of trends in insect herbivory, underscoring the need to strengthen monitoring and research in order to better understand underlying mechanisms and identify emerging threats that may not be apparent in currently available data.

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Publication Details

Journal
Global Change Biology
Published
2025-10-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70580
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Forest Insect Ecology and Management
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.72

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article

Divergent Trends in Insect Disturbance Across Europe's Temperate and Boreal Forests

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1 citations
Global Change Biology
Forest Insect Ecology and Management
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article

Divergent Trends in Insect Disturbance Across Europe's Temperate and Boreal Forests

Maarten de Groot, Gottfried Steyrer, Eckehard G. Brockerhoff, Bjørn Økland, Michaela Perunová, Laura Dobor, Thomas Wohlgemuth, Markus Melin, Georgi Georgiev, György Csóka, Gediminas Brazaitis, Marija Kolšek, Slobodan Milanović, Jostein Gohli, Milan Pernek, Tomáš Hlásny, Mats Jonsell, Mihai‐Leonard Duduman, Gernot Hoch, Henrik A. Hartmann, Andrew M. Liebhold, Jozef Vakula, Martin Schroeder, Iris Bernardinelli, Anikó Hirka, Mats Nieberg, Hervé Jactel, Tomasz Jabłoński, Massimo Faccoli, Paal Krokene, Nick Schafstall, Gailenė Brazaitytė, Constantin Nețoiu, W. Grodzki, Simon Blaser, Roman Modlinger, Rupert Seidl, Tiina Ylioja, Маргарита Георгиева
article en
1 citations

Abstract

Ongoing shifts in climate and land use have altered interactions between trees and insect herbivores, changing biotic disturbance regimes. However, as these changes are complex and vary across host species, insect taxa, and feeding guilds, they remain poorly understood. We compiled annual records of forest insect disturbance from 15 countries in temperate and boreal Europe, spanning the period from 2000 to 2022. The dataset comprises 1361 time series characterizing the dynamics of 50 herbivorous insects. We used this dataset to test whether insect disturbance has systematically changed during the 23-year period across host trees and feeding guilds, whether it varies along latitudinal and climatic gradients, and whether synchrony exists among species in the same guild or among species sharing the same host. Since 2000, borer disturbance was predominantly concentrated on gymnosperms, while defoliators impacted gymnosperms and angiosperms more evenly. While 85.8% of gymnosperm disturbance was inflicted by a single species, Ips typographus, the majority of disturbances to angiosperms were caused by six different species. Borer impact on gymnosperms has increased in the 21st century, while defoliator impact has decreased across both clades. In contrast to diverging temporal trends, disturbance was consistently greater in warmer and drier conditions across feeding guilds and host types. We identified significant synchrony in insect disturbance within host types and feeding guilds but not between these groups, suggesting shared drivers within guilds and host types. Increasing insect disturbance to gymnosperms may catalyze adaptive transformations in Europe's forests, promoting a shift from historical conifer-dominated management to broadleaved trees, which are less affected by insect herbivores. Our findings reveal a diversity of trends in insect herbivory, underscoring the need to strengthen monitoring and research in order to better understand underlying mechanisms and identify emerging threats that may not be apparent in currently available data.

Global Change BiologyVol. 31(11)
Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava (RO), CEA CESTA (FR), Julius Kühn-Institut (DE), University of Padua (IT), Université de Bordeaux (FR), Vytautas Magnus University (LT), Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZ), Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BG), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (CH), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE), Natural Resources Institute Finland (FI), University of Belgrade (RS), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry "Marin Drăcea" (RO), Regional Health (US), Slovenian Forestry Institute (SI), National Forest Centre (SK), Nature Research Centre (LT), Forest Research Institute (BG), UMR BIOdiversity, GEnes & Communities (FR), Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NO), European Forest Institute (DE), Instytut Badawczy Leśnictwa (PL), Schön Klinik Berchtesgadener Land (DE), Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NO), Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (DE), Austrian Research Centre for Forests (AT), Croatian Forest Research Institute (HR), Mendel University in Brno (CZ), Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (DE), Technical University of Munich (DE), University of Göttingen (DE), University of Sopron (HU)
Soproni Egyetem, European Commission, Università degli Studi di Padova, Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet, Technische Universität München, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Česká Zemědělská Univerzita v Praze, Université de Bordeaux, Mendelova Univerzita v Brně, Servizio Fitosanitario della Regione Puglia, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Nature, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, U.S. Forest Service, HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme, Research Executive Agency, Fakulta Lesnická a Drevarská, Česká Zemědělská Univerzita v Praze, Norsk institutt for Bioøkonomi
Openalex Percentile: Top 13%
Forest Insect Ecology and Management
1.72
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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