Habitat suitability under changing climatic conditions for the exotic ambrosia beetle, Cnestus mutilatus (Curculionidae: Scolytinae: Xyleborini) in the southeastern United States.
Abstract
The camphor shot borer, Cnestus mutilatus (Blandford) is a nonnative ambrosia beetle first reported in the United States in 1999 at Oktibbeha County in Mississippi. Although C. mutilatus is a major pest of several trees in its native habitat in Asia, it is not yet a major pest in the United States. However, the range expansion in recent years across the southeastern region indicates that C. mutilatus could be adapting quickly to the new environment, perhaps because of the availability of numerous host trees and suitable environmental conditions that support the population. As the population increases, future outbreaks of C. mutilatus may result in mortality of valuable hosts. Our objective was to identify potential suitable habitats for C. mutilatus in the southeastern United States under changing climate by 2020 and 2060 by examining C. mutilatus preferred conditions, host environmental requirements, precipitation, and temperature projects from an ensemble of general circulation model, and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change future climate scenarios.