New York vineyards are at imminent risk from the invasion by Spotted Lanternflly (SLF, Lycorma delicatula), yet our ability to predict which vineyards across a landscape are most at risk is minimal. The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets has been monitoring the presence and absence SLF observations across Southern and Central New York resulting in a dataset of over 70,000 detailed observations from 2020-2023 that include site specific data on habitat, as well as age and density of host trees if SLF was found.
The invasive tree Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven or TOH) is an important and preferred host for SLF. Although SLF can develop on other tree and vine species, including black walnut, maple and importantly wild and cultivated grape, it has significantly greater survival and fecundity if TOH is part of its diet. TOH is widely distributed across NY state. Transit hubs are also important nodes of invasion.
We developed a risk assessment map using TOH ground-truthed location data, from NY Ag & Markets and from a previous project focused on the Finger Lakes region, to train a model using remote sensing imagery which identifies other TOH locations across the NY landscape. We integrated these TOH data with NY Ag & Markets observations of SLF, and remotely sensed transit hubs and NY vineyards to develop the risk assessment map for NY vineyards.
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