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ViewAttendees 2

10-Minute Paper

Plant-Insect Ecosystems

P-IE: Ecology

Periodical cicadas in the city: What to do when they come for your newly planted street trees

Sunday, November 5, 2023
3:42 PM – 3:54 PM ET
Location: Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, National Harbor 10
In-Person

    Presenting Author(s)

  • KY

    Kasey Maria Yturralde

    Forest Health and Community Outreach Specialist
    Urban Forestry Division
    Washington, District of Columbia

    • Co-Author(s)

  • CQ

    Carlos Quesada

    Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist
    West Virginia University
    Morgantown, West Virginia

  • KW

    Kristen Wickert

    Forest Pathologist
    USDA
    Morgantown, West Virginia

  • CL

    Craig Larcenaire

    Forest Entomologist
    USDA
    Morgantown, West Virginia

  • AS

    Ann Steketee

    GIS Specialist
    USDA
    Morgantown, West Virginia

  • RT

    Richard Turcotte

    Forest Health Group Leader
    USDA
    Morgantown, West Virginia

The periodical cicadas of Brood X (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) emerged in the summer of 2021. Within Brood X’s emergence area is the District of Columbia, which had planted several thousand trees during 2020 and 2021. There was concern that the millions of female cicadas would negatively impact recently transplanted trees. This presented an opportunity to assess the impacts of periodical cicadas on an urban tree planting program. Newly planted trees were surveyed for evidence of cicada egg laying and twig damage in relation to tree genus and location within trees. There were significant differences in egg laying behavior among ten tree genera, with the most damage observed in Acer and Nyssa. Egg laying occurred most often in scaffold and lateral branches. Egg laying intensity was positively correlated with percent foliage lost. There was little evidence of cicada impacts on overall tree health as tree condition was unrelated to egg laying intensity. Condition and survival of the 2020-2021 tree cohort were similar to previous years with an absence of a large-scale emergence. These results indicate that municipal urban forestry departments facing a large periodical cicada emergence could avoid damage to young trees by choosing less preferred genera. Further investigation may reveal long-term indirect impacts of egg laying on young trees, such as decay or poor form. A periodical cicada emergence should not entirely preclude tree planting efforts as cicada damage does not appear to impact overall health of trees two years post-planting.