Distribution pattern of entry holes of the tree-killing bark beetle Polygraphus proximus.

Shin-Ya Takei,Kenta Köbayashi,Etsuro Takagi,Richard Mankin

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0246812

Abstract

Bark beetles attack their hosts at uniform intervals to avoid intraspecific competition in the phloem. Bark texture and phloem thickness also affect bark beetle attacks, and the bark characteristics are not spatially homogeneous; therefore, the distribution patterns of entry holes can demonstrate an aggregated distribution. Polygraphus proximus Blandford (Coleoptera: Scolytinae) is a non-aggressive phloephagous bark beetle that feeds on Far Eastern firs. They have caused mass mortality in Russia and Japan. However, the distribution pattern of entry holes of P. proximus and spatial relationships with bark characteristics have not been studied. Thus, we investigated the distribution pattern of entry holes of P. proximus. The distribution of entry holes was significantly uniform in most cases. As the attack density increased, an aggregated distribution pattern within a short distance (< 4.0 cm) was observed. The rough bark had a significantly higher number of entry holes than the remaining bark. The distribution pattern of entry holes demonstrated a significantly aggregated spatial association with rough bark. Finally, rough bark around knots had significantly thicker phloem than the remaining barks. These suggest that P. proximus may preferentially attack rough bark to reproduce in the thicker phloem under a rough bark surface.

Highlights

Most bark beetles reproduce in the phloem tissue of woody plants
Our results demonstrated that the distribution pattern of entry holes of P. proximus was significantly uniform in most cases
The uniform distribution pattern of entry holes observed in the present study suggests that P. proximus adults avoid other entry holes when they attack

Summary

Introduction

Most bark beetles reproduce in the phloem tissue of woody plants. Their adults land on a tree, bore into the phloem, copulate, and excavate galleries along which they oviposit. To avoid intraspecific competition in the phloem, adults attack at uniformly, regular intervals compared to a random pattern [4,5]. Both outer and inner bark characteristics can affect bark beetle attacks. Phloem (i.e., inner bark) thickness is positively correlated with attack density [10,11] because thicker phloem has more nutrients available for egg production and brood growth than thin phloem These positive correlations between bark characteristics and attack density may result in aggregated distribution patterns of entry holes

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Conclusion