Data from: Predicting novel trophic interactions in a non-native world

Humans are altering the global distributional ranges of plants, while their co-evolved herbivores are frequently left behind. Native herbivores often colonise non-native plants, potentially reducing invasion success or causing economic loss to introduced agricultural crops. We developed a predictive model to forecast novel interactions and verified it with a data set containing hundreds of observed novel plant–insect interactions. Using a food network of 900 native European butterfly and moth species and 1944 native plants, we built an herbivore host-use model. By extrapolating host use from the native herbivore–plant food network, we accurately forecasted the observed novel use of 459 non-native plant species by native herbivores. Patterns that governed herbivore host breadth on co-evolved native plants were equally important in determining non-native hosts. Our results make the forecasting of novel herbivore communities feasible in order to better understand the fate and impact of introduced plants.predicting novel host use codeR code for analysis of host use in food web of plants and Lepidoptera herbivores. Assessment of transferability only novel hosts.plant_informationnames and status of German plants in host use analysisLepidoptera informationtaxonomic information on Lepidoptera in host use analysisinteraction data on plants and Lepidoptera in BWmatrix of interactions of plants and Lepidopteran herbivoresmatrix_species_20120901.txtplant phylogenya Newick tree readable in R package "ape". A supertree of all plants found in Baden-Wuerttemburg, Germany. Constructed using Phylomatic with branch lengths constrained to those recorded in Wikstrom et al 2001plant_phylo_2010_11_30.tr