Canadian Forest Service Publications

Successful colonization, reproduction, and new generation emergence in live interior hybrid spruce Picea engelmannii×glauca by mountain pine beetle Dendroctonus ponderosae. 2009. Huber, D.P.W.; Aukema, B.H.; Hodgkinson, R.S.; Lindgren, B.S. Agricultural and Forest Entomology 11(1): 83-89.

Year: 2009

Issued by: Pacific Forestry Centre

Catalog ID: 29477

Language: English

Availability: PDF (request by e-mail)

Available from the Journal's Web site.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-9563.2008.00411.x

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Abstract

1 Although mountain pine beetle Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins are able to utilize most available Pinus spp. as hosts, successful colonization and reproduction in other hosts within the Pinaceae is rare.

2 We observed successful reproduction of mountain pine beetle and emergence of new generation adults from interior hybrid spruce Picea engelmannii×glauca and compared a number of parameters related to colonization and reproductive success in spruce with nearby lodgepole pine Pinus contorta infested by mountain pine beetle.

3 The results obtained indicate that reduced competition in spruce allowed mountain pine beetle parents that survived the colonization process to produce more offspring per pair than in more heavily-infested nearby pine.

4 We also conducted an experiment in which 20 spruce and 20 lodgepole pines were baited with the aggregation pheromone of mountain pine beetle. Nineteen pines (95%) and eight spruce (40%) were attacked by mountain pine beetle, with eight (40%) and three (15%) mass-attacked, respectively.

5 Successful attacks on nonhost trees during extreme epidemics may be one mechanism by which host shifts and subsequent speciation events have occurred in Dendroctonus spp. bark beetles.