Unveiling invasive insect threats to plant biodiversity: Leveraging eDNA metabarcoding and saturated salt trap solutions for biosurveillance

eDNA from up to five IAS regulated by Canada was found in the salt trap solutions with the highest bootstrap support (> = 0.97): Agrilus planipennis, Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, Lymantria dispar, Popillia japonica, and Trichoferus campestris (Table 1; Fig 4). At the time of analysis, Tri- choferus campestris was listed as a regulated pest and is therefore treated as such in the current study, however studies of recent incursions suggest this insect is not a primary pest of trees [30] and will likely be removed from the list as a result. The analysis per collection year showed that all Fig 1. Representation of MOTU numbers (nb_motus) versus the number of reads (nb_reads) per collection. Samples (NA) are represented in grey, while sequencing and PCR controls are represented in red and brown. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290036.g001 PLOS ONE Unveiling invasive insect threats to plant biodiversity PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290036 August 11, 2023 9 / 24