Abstract
Bark beetles (Coleoptera, Scolytinae) carry a diverse filamentous fungal community sometimes acting as vectors or carriers of phytopathogens. In this study, mycobiota carried by two Tomicus species (Tomicus piniperda and Tomicus destruens) were investigated through (i) morphological and molecular identification of taxa; (ii) taxonomic richness, diversity, evenness, dominance and phoresy indices; (iii) ecological network analysis and (iv) statistical co-occurrence analysis. The studied mycobiota were formed by eleven taxa and showed a moderate fungal diversity with low evenness. The fungus Sydowia polyspora was significantly abundant and dominated the community. All the fungal taxa were randomly associated. Both insect species (T. piniperda and T. destruens) were collected from plantations of Pinus radiata infected by Fusarium circinatum. The ecological factors that could drive community ecology and phoretic links between fungi and bark beetles are discussed.
Highlights
The ecological interactions between fungi and bark beetles (Coleoptera, Scolytinae) are complex and can range in a continuum from symbiosis to parasitism [1]
The aims of this study were (i) to characterise the mycobiota carried by the two Tomicus spp. during their hibernation period in pine shoots; (ii) to evaluate the ecological relationships among fungi carried by the bark beetles and (iii) to investigate the possible presence of Tomicus destruens in pine stands inhabited by T. piniperda and damaged by PPCD
T. destruens and T. piniperda, were present in the study area, but the only two individuals captured in the pure Monterey pine stand were T. destruens (13.33% plot A; 4.08% total amount of insects) while 100% of insects in the mixed stand were T. piniperda
Summary
The ecological interactions between fungi and bark beetles (Coleoptera, Scolytinae) are complex and can range in a continuum from symbiosis to parasitism [1]. The relationship between bark beetles and potentially pathogenic fungi has been broadly studied in forest pathology [2,3,4], e.g., the Dutch elm disease (DED; causal agents Ophiostoma ulmi (Buisman) Melin & Nannf. Forests 2017, 8, 127 damping-off in nurseries It causes severe symptoms in adult trees, such as growth reduction, wilting, and the resulting bleeding cankers are dangerous because trees break during wind storms [7]. This pathogen is widespread around the world, establishing different phoretic relationships with several groups of invertebrates (mainly insects and others as mollusks and crustaceans [8])
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