Potential of Scots Pine for a Push Strategy against the European Spruce Bark Beetle <i>Ips typographus</i>
<i>Ips typographus</i>, the European spruce bark beetle, is a destructive forest insect that attacks spruce trees. It poses a significant threat to the forestry industry, causing widespread tree mortality and economic losses, and its management through chemical ecology is a promising app...
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MDPI AG
2023-08-01
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Series: | Forests |
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Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/9/1727 |
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author | Riccardo Favaro Alessandro Andriolo Cinthia Sieder Sergio Angeli |
author_facet | Riccardo Favaro Alessandro Andriolo Cinthia Sieder Sergio Angeli |
author_sort | Riccardo Favaro |
collection | DOAJ |
description | <i>Ips typographus</i>, the European spruce bark beetle, is a destructive forest insect that attacks spruce trees. It poses a significant threat to the forestry industry, causing widespread tree mortality and economic losses, and its management through chemical ecology is a promising approach. Attraction relies on aggregation pheromones while repellency is achieved via antiaggregation pheromones combined with mixtures of nonhost volatiles (NHVs), but an effective push and pull strategy has not been established yet. In this study, we observed the beetle colonization dynamic and density comparing pure Norway spruce stacks and Norway spruce stacks with 20% Scots pine logs. We collected the spruce bark volatiles before the beetle colonization and at the end of the trial, and tested the behavioral effects on the beetles of both spruce and pine essential oils in olfactometer trials. In the stacks with Scots pine, we observed a delayed primary colonization and a 65% reduction of the secondary colonization, confirming the colonization disruption mediated by NHVs. Volatile analysis showed a significant change in the bark emission profiles, and the reaching of the antiaggregation phase was marked by the release of verbenone. Behavioral experiments confirmed the attractivity of spruce essential oil and the strong repellency of the pine essential oil. The study supports the use of complex NHVs blends for the beetle behavioral manipulation in the field. Further studies are needed to assess if the same results can be achieved by deploying essential oils in forest stands. |
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institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1999-4907 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:45:39Z |
publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
publisher | MDPI AG |
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spelling | doaj.art-bcd6a2adc3844edfaf96f79719bfa7342023-11-19T10:45:04ZengMDPI AGForests1999-49072023-08-01149172710.3390/f14091727Potential of Scots Pine for a Push Strategy against the European Spruce Bark Beetle <i>Ips typographus</i>Riccardo Favaro0Alessandro Andriolo1Cinthia Sieder2Sergio Angeli3Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, ItalyFaculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, ItalyFaculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, ItalyFaculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, Italy<i>Ips typographus</i>, the European spruce bark beetle, is a destructive forest insect that attacks spruce trees. It poses a significant threat to the forestry industry, causing widespread tree mortality and economic losses, and its management through chemical ecology is a promising approach. Attraction relies on aggregation pheromones while repellency is achieved via antiaggregation pheromones combined with mixtures of nonhost volatiles (NHVs), but an effective push and pull strategy has not been established yet. In this study, we observed the beetle colonization dynamic and density comparing pure Norway spruce stacks and Norway spruce stacks with 20% Scots pine logs. We collected the spruce bark volatiles before the beetle colonization and at the end of the trial, and tested the behavioral effects on the beetles of both spruce and pine essential oils in olfactometer trials. In the stacks with Scots pine, we observed a delayed primary colonization and a 65% reduction of the secondary colonization, confirming the colonization disruption mediated by NHVs. Volatile analysis showed a significant change in the bark emission profiles, and the reaching of the antiaggregation phase was marked by the release of verbenone. Behavioral experiments confirmed the attractivity of spruce essential oil and the strong repellency of the pine essential oil. The study supports the use of complex NHVs blends for the beetle behavioral manipulation in the field. Further studies are needed to assess if the same results can be achieved by deploying essential oils in forest stands.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/9/1727bark volatilesverbenoneNorway spruceNHVsbehavioral assays |
spellingShingle | Riccardo Favaro Alessandro Andriolo Cinthia Sieder Sergio Angeli Potential of Scots Pine for a Push Strategy against the European Spruce Bark Beetle <i>Ips typographus</i> Forests bark volatiles verbenone Norway spruce NHVs behavioral assays |
title | Potential of Scots Pine for a Push Strategy against the European Spruce Bark Beetle <i>Ips typographus</i> |
title_full | Potential of Scots Pine for a Push Strategy against the European Spruce Bark Beetle <i>Ips typographus</i> |
title_fullStr | Potential of Scots Pine for a Push Strategy against the European Spruce Bark Beetle <i>Ips typographus</i> |
title_full_unstemmed | Potential of Scots Pine for a Push Strategy against the European Spruce Bark Beetle <i>Ips typographus</i> |
title_short | Potential of Scots Pine for a Push Strategy against the European Spruce Bark Beetle <i>Ips typographus</i> |
title_sort | potential of scots pine for a push strategy against the european spruce bark beetle i ips typographus i |
topic | bark volatiles verbenone Norway spruce NHVs behavioral assays |
url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/9/1727 |
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