North American trees in Switzerland as sentinel trees for the USA

Ex-patria sentinel tree plantings are non-native trees planted and monitored to be used as early warning systems for invasive forest pests.

In this USDA-funded project, we 1) evaluate entries of attacks on North American trees in the database of Swiss Forest Protection and 2) carry out surveys with urban tree managers in Switzerland, who routinely plant and care for North American tree species.

The main product of this project will be a collection of reported biotic stressors per tree species, with descriptions of damage and severity of damage. This can be used to inform monitoring for potentially impactful invasive forest pests in North America.