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Bed bugs are creepy little things that are spreading like crazy because of increasingly mobile people in a fast paced, internationally fluid world of commerce, travel, and human movement.

Sound familiar? Same thing with forest pests. So let's compare:

Bed bugs; common in other countries

Invasive forest pests; come from other countries

Bed bugs; resurgence from more internation movement of people and goods

Invasive forest pests; increasing because of more international movement of firewood, packaging materials, and commercial goods, especially plant imports

Bed bugs: spread once established via infested luggage or furniture

Invasive forest pests: spread once established via  infested firewood or other untreated wood

Bed bugs; cause economic damage and are really hard to get rid of once established

Invasive forest pests; exactly the same!

Bed bugs; carry no diseases and kill nobody

Invasive forest pests; carry many tree diseases, and kill millions of trees every year.

I'll stop now.

This post, by the way, was inspired by a great article in the New York Times titled "Bedbugs? Other Strange Invaders Threaten Much Wider Damage" by Peter Applebome. He takes a different slant on the comparison, but is just as informative and alarmed as he should be. Go read it!