Abstract

Ambrosia beetle, Platypus koryoensis, is a vector of oak wilt disease caused by Raffaelea sp. in Korea. The degree of damage by oak wilt disease was dependent on the density of the beetles in the oak trunk, a relationship between the degree of damage by oak wilt disease and the density of beetle on the basis of the number of entry hole was studied. Entry hole distribution within tree trunk was analyzed by the nearest neighbor method. Thirty four oak trees (Quercus mongolica) located in survey area were selected and then degree of damage, the number of attack hole/ in upper (50cm from the surface) and lower (surface) trunk and the nearest neighbor distance between the holes were measured. The number of hole and the nearest neighbor distance in upper and lower part were positively correlated with each other. As the degree of damage was severer, the number of the holes increased, whereas the nearest neighbor distance decreased. The distribution pattern of the hole was changed from clumped one to uniform as the severity of damage increased. These results suggested that Platypus koryoensis attacked the oak tree in concentrative manner at initial stage of attack but at final stage, it distributed uniformly to reduce intraspecific competition between the beetles.

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