Skip to main content
Contact Us
Contact Us

Preparing to search

Research

Oak lace bug in Europe (OLBIE): Evaluation of the pest status in Europe and development of survey, control ...

Home research Oak lace bug in Europe (OLBIE): Evaluation of the pest status in Europe and development of survey, control and management strategies

This project will focus on the oak lace bug (OLB) Corythucha arcuata (Heteroptera: Tingidae) an invasive Hemipteran insect introduced from its native range in N. America into Europe, and which was first detected in Europe in Italy in 2000 (Bernardinelli & Zandigiacomo, 2000).

Since its accidental introduction it has spread rapidly over a wide geographical area and is now found in over a dozen other European countries. In some countries, such as Hungary and Croatia its population has reached substantial levels where there is now serious concern that the pest may have significant impacts on oak health, as well as potentially increase the susceptibility of oaks to other pests and diseases.

Research objectives

The main objective(s) that will be considered by the collaborators involved in the project will include:

• What are the impacts of this insect pest on oak growth and fecundity, and why is there such variability in the insect’s apparent impacts across Europe (i.e. high impacts in Croatia and Hungary, and seemingly low impacts in Italy and Switzerland?)

• What are the key pathways for movement of the insect pest and how can we better protect against the risk of further introductions and wider European spread?

• What are the rates of natural spread, and what are the key human mediated means of dispersal of the pest?

• What are the best survey strategies to try and detect the pest as early as possible?

• What control and management approaches are available, cost-effective and of use in dealing with this pest? Is there scope for biological control? And ultimately is there scope for preventing or limiting spread in the case of successful establishment?

 

Related Resources

Observatree – Oak lace bug

Evaluation of the pest status in Europe of the oak lace bug (Corythucha arcuata): Poster presented at IUFRO conference in Quebec City

Our Involvement

Forest Research are the project co-ordinators

Oak lace bug in Europe (OLBIE): Evaluation of the pest status in Europe and development of survey, control and management strategies
In this section
Oak lace bug in Europe (OLBIE): Evaluation of the pest status in Europe and development of survey, control and management strategies
  • Oak lace bug in Europe (OLBIE): Evaluation of the pest status in Europe and development of survey, control and management strategies
Themes
Pests and diseases
Research Status
current
Research Groups
Tree health
Contacts
David Williams
Entomologist
Forestry Staff David Williams ScgTto9.2e16d0ba.fill 600x600 1
Funding & partners
  • Dr David Williams - Forest Research (Co-ordinator) – UK
  • Dr György Csóka - NARIC Forest Research Institute - Hungary
  • Dr Boris Hrašovec - University of Zagreb - Croatia
  • Dr Gernot Hoch - Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape (BFW) - Austria
  • Dr. Vaclav Cermak - Central Institute for Supervising & Testing of Agriculture – The Czech Republic
  • Dr Maarten de Groot - Slovenian Forestry Institute - Slovenia
  • Dr Bastien Castagneyrol - French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) - France
  • Dr Constantina Chireceanu - Research & Development Institute for Plant Protection - Romania