| Title: | Chemical similarity between historical and novel host plants promotes range and host expansion of the mountain pine beetle in a naive host ecosystem |
| Author(s): | Erbilgin N; Ma C; Whitehouse C; Shan B; Najar A; Evenden M; |
| Address: | "Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, 442 Earth Sciences Building, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E3, Canada. Environment and Sustainable Resources Development, Forest Management Branch, Peace River, AB, T8S 1T4, Canada. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, 214A Earth Sciences Building, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E3, Canada" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1469-8137 (Electronic) 0028-646X (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Host plant secondary chemistry can have cascading impacts on host and range expansion of herbivorous insect populations. We investigated the role of host secondary compounds on pheromone production by the mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) (MPB) and beetle attraction in response to a historical (lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta var. latifolia) and a novel (jack pine, Pinus banksiana) hosts, as pheromones regulate the host colonization process. Beetles emit the same pheromones from both hosts, but more trans-verbenol, the primary aggregation pheromone, was emitted by female beetles on the novel host. The phloem of the novel host contains more alpha-pinene, a secondary compound that is the precursor for trans-verbenol production in beetle, than the historical host. Beetle-induced emission of 3-carene, another secondary compound found in both hosts, was also higher from the novel host. Field tests showed that the addition of 3-carene to the pheromone mixture mimicking the aggregation pheromones produced from the two host species increased beetle capture. We conclude that chemical similarity between historical and novel hosts has facilitated host expansion of MPB in jack pine forests through the exploitation of common host secondary compounds for pheromone production and aggregation on the hosts. Furthermore, broods emerging from the novel host were larger in terms of body size" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Coleoptera/*physiology *Ecosystem Flight, Animal Geography Host Specificity/*physiology Monoterpenes/analysis North America Pheromones/analysis Pinus/*chemistry/*parasitology Dendroctonus ponderosae Pinus banksiana boreal forest invasion biology j;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineErbilgin, Nadir Ma, Cary Whitehouse, Caroline Shan, Bin Najar, Ahmed Evenden, Maya eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2014/01/10 New Phytol. 2014 Feb; 201(3):940-950. doi: 10.1111/nph.12573. Epub 2013 Oct 30" |
