Studies of Ambrosia Beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Their Native Ranges Help Predict Invasion Impact

Ambrosia beetles frequently invade non-native regions but are typically of no concern because most species live in dead trees and culture nonpathogenic symbiotic fungal gardens. Recently, however, several ambrosia beetle—fungus complexes have invaded non-native regions and killed large numbers of host trees. Such tree-killing invasions have occurred unexpectedly, and the mechanism of the ecological switch from dead trees to live trees has been...