Research Summaries

Research summaries are short descriptions of research papers relevant for natural resources management that consider invasive species and climate change, including key take home points and practical implications. Sign up for the NE RISCC listserv to receive email updates of research summaries (sent every other Wednesday). Research summaries address NE RISCC’s goal of translating science for practice. For more in-depth syntheses, check out our Research to Practice papers.

Filter research summaries by one of these categories, or scroll down to see them all.

range expansion

Novel Introduction Pathways

management efficacy & policy

Climate-smart restoration & assisted migration

changing biotic interactions (competitiveness)

Shifting seasons (Phenology)

Climate Extremes

All research summaries

When Species Drift Our Terms Must Shift

Fusco, Emily J., Bryan G. Falk, Paul J. Heimowitz, Deah Lieurance, Elliott W. Parsons, Cait M. Rottler, Lindsey L. Thurman, and Annette E. Evans. "The emerging invasive species and climate-change lexicon." Trends in Ecology & Evolution (2024).

CompetitivenessNortheast RISCCMarch 31, 2026range expansion, Changing Biotic Interactions, Competitiveness, terminology, framework

Pathway Peril: Climate Change Will Increase Invasion Vulnerability in Protected Areas

Lieurance, D., Canavan, S., Faulkner, K.T., O’Shaughnessy, K.A., Lockwood, J.L., Parsons, E.W., Avery, J.D. and Daniel, W., 2025. Understanding and managing introduction pathways into protected areas in a changing climate. Biological Invasions, 27(2), p.74.. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-025-03534-3

Climate Change, Management Efficacy and PolicyNortheast RISCCMarch 3, 2026adaptive biosecurity, Climate change, primary and secondary pathways, global biodiversity framework, management prioritization

Biocontrol and Climate Change

Evans, A.E., W.G. Pfadenhauer, D.M. Buonaiuto, M.E. Fertakos, C.J. Brown-Lima, T.L. Morelli. 2025. The future of biocontrol in the Anthropocene: A review of climate change impacts on biocontrol agents and their targets. Ecological Applications, 35, e70088.

Management Efficacy and PolicyNortheast RISCCFebruary 24, 2026Management efficacy, Changing Biotic Interactions, Biological control, Biocontrol, Meta-analysis, temperature effects

Borered to death: EAB invasion likely in all northeastern counties by 2030

Ward, Samuel F., Songlin Fei, and Andrew M. Liebhold. 2020. “Temporal Dynamics and Drivers of Landscape-Level Spread by Emerald Ash Borer.” Journal of Applied Ecology 57 (6): 1020–30.

Range ExpansionNortheast RISCCFebruary 10, 2026range expansion, Emerald Ash Borer, human-mediated dispersal

Two trees diverged in a wood and that made all the difference (for insect impacts)

Mech, A. M., Thomas, K. A., Marsico, T. D., Herms, D. A., Allen, C. R., Ayres, M. P., ... & Tobin, P. C. (2019). Evolutionary history predicts high‐impact invasions by herbivorous insects. Ecology and evolution, 9(21), 12216-12230.

Impact StudyNortheast RISCCJanuary 27, 2026Risk Assessment, invasive insects, conifers, Adelges piceae, Adelges tsugae, Elatobium abientinum, Gilpinia her-cyniae, Matsucoccus matsumurae, Pristiphora erichsonii

Thistles in warmer environments fear no weevil

Keller, J. A., and Shea, K. (2024). Altered Biological Control Species Interactions despite Phenological Synchrony along an Urban–Rural Temperature Gradient. Biological Invasions 26 (7), 2153–69.

Phenology (Shifting Seasons)Northeast RISCCDecember 2, 2025Shifting Seasons, Biological control, Carduus nutans, rhincyllus conicus

Land of plenty (of introduced plants)

Bradley, Bethany A., Annette E. Evans, Helen R. Sofaer, Montserrat Vilà, David T. Barnett, Evelyn M. Beaury, Dana M. Blumenthal et al. "A Quantitative Classification of the Geography of Non‐Native Flora in the United States." Global Ecology and Biogeography 34, no. 4 (2025): e70041.

Range ExpansionNortheast RISCCNovember 18, 2025Invasive plants, abundance, range expansion, Risk Assessment, Invasion impacts

RISCC brings rewards: Participating in NE RISCC increases knowledge and action on invasive species and climate change

Evans, A. E., Colberg, E. M., Allen, J. M., Beaury, E. M., Brown‐Lima, C., Morelli, T. L., & Bradley, B. A. (2024). Boundary spanning increases knowledge and action on invasive species in a changing climate. Ecological Solutions and Evidence, 5(4), e12387.

Climate ChangeNortheast RISCCNovember 4, 2025Climate change, Invasive species management, Transitional ecology, boundary spanning, knowledge gaps, RISCC participation

Choosing plants for managed relocation - travel safely!

Summary of Nuhfer and Bradley ““Balancing Risk and Resilience: Which Plant Traits Should Inform Managed Relocation Species Selection?””

Assisted Migration and Climate-Smart RestorationNortheast RISCCOctober 21, 2025native plants, Range Shifts, Risk, Managed Relocation, Review

Watered down seeds - cultivated seeds may reduce restoration efficacy

Management Efficacy and Policy, Assisted Migration and Climate-Smart RestorationNortheast RISCCSeptember 30, 2025genetic diversity, Management efficacy, climate-smart restoration, clarkia pulchella

Native plants can take the heat

Summary of Tartaglia & Aronson ““Plant native: comparing biodiversity benefits, ecosystem services provisioning, and plant performance of native and non-native plants in urban horticulture”

Impact Study, Assisted Migration and Climate-Smart RestorationNortheast RISCCJune 27, 2025Plant, climate-smart restoration, Ecosystem services, native species, Impact Study

Principles of ecological restoration include climate-adjusted provenancing

Summary of Gann et al. 2019 “International principles and standards for the practice of ecological restoration“

Assisted Migration and Climate-Smart RestorationNortheast RISCCJune 23, 2025Climate adaptation, Plant, climate-adjusted provenancing, Managed Relocation, Restoration, climate-smart restoration

We’ve got something to prove(nance)

Summary of Prober et al. 2015 “Climate-adjusted provenancing: a strategy for climate-resilient ecological restoration“

Assisted Migration and Climate-Smart RestorationNortheast RISCCJune 23, 2025Climate adaptation, Plant, climate-adjusted provenancing, Managed Relocation, Restoration, climate-smart restoration

Resistance and resilience through diversity

Summary of Millar et al. 2007 “Climate change and forests of the future: managing in the face of uncertainty.“

Assisted Migration and Climate-Smart RestorationNortheast RISCCJune 23, 2025Climate adaptation, Plant, climate-adjusted provenancing, Managed Relocation, Restoration, climate-smart restoration

Play it safe with tree seeds

Summary of Pike & Haase (2024) “Seed transfer guidelines for important tree species in the Eastern United States“

Assisted Migration and Climate-Smart RestorationNortheast RISCCJune 23, 2025Climate adaptation, Plant, climate-adjusted provenancing, Managed Relocation, Restoration, climate-smart restoration

Unseeded territory

Summary of Bucharova et al. (2016) “Plants adapted to warmer climate do not outperform regional plants during a natural heat wave“

Assisted Migration and Climate-Smart RestorationNortheast RISCCJune 23, 2025Climate adaptation, Plant, climate-adjusted provenancing, Managed Relocation, Restoration, climate-smart restoration

Running up that hill (with plants)

Summary of Anderson & Wadgymar (2020) “Climate change disrupts local adaptation and favours upslope migration“

Assisted Migration and Climate-Smart RestorationNortheast RISCCJune 23, 2025Climate adaptation, Plant, climate-adjusted provenancing, Managed Relocation, Restoration, climate-smart restoration

Home field advantage?

Summary of Woolridge et al. (2023) “Variation in overall fitness due to seed source: projections for predictive provenancing“

Assisted Migration and Climate-Smart RestorationNortheast RISCCJune 23, 2025Climate adaptation, Plant, climate-adjusted provenancing, Managed Relocation, Restoration, climate-smart restoration

Junk in the trunk - why the rear range edge matters

Summary of Hampe & Petit 2005 “Conserving biodiversity under climate change: the rear edge matters“

Assisted Migration and Climate-Smart RestorationNortheast RISCCJune 23, 2025Climate adaptation, Plant, climate-adjusted provenancing, Managed Relocation, Restoration, climate-smart restoration

Yep, more invasives is not good - relationships between invader abundance and impact

Summary of Bradley et al. (2019) “Disentangling the abundance-impact relationship for invasive species“

Impact StudyNortheast RISCCMay 29, 2025Climate change, Invasive plants, Hotspots, Range Shift