Abstract
Climate change is one of the major threats to biodiversity, but its impact varies among the species. Bark beetles (Ips spp.), as well as other wood-boring pests of European forests, show escalating numbers in response to the changes driven by climate change and seriously affect the survival of the forests through the massive killing of trees. Many methods were developed to control these wood-boring beetles, however, their implementation can be detrimental for other forest specialists. Ants are widely used for biological pest-control, so in our study, we aimed to test the effect of Formica polyctena on the control of the wood-boring beetles. The results show that the proportion of infested trees is significantly reduced by the increase of the number of F. polyctena nests, with a strong effect on those infested by Ips species. We also show that the boring beetle community is shaped by different biotic and abiotic factors, including the presence of F. polyctena nests. However, the boring beetle infestation was not related to the latitude, altitude and age of the forests. Based on our results, we assert the effectiveness of the red wood ants as biological pest control and the importance of their conservation to keep the health of the forests.
Highlights
Climate change is one of the major threats to biodiversity, but its impact varies among the species
Our results show that the beetle community was mainly shaped by the number of F. polyctena nests, the percentage of alive affected trees and the perimeter of the affected tree trunks present within the studys
The increasing number of F. polyctena nests seems to lead to a reduction in the number of trees infected by bark beetles and, despite the fungal infestation was not significantly reduced, it seems to be affected
Summary
Climate change is one of the major threats to biodiversity, but its impact varies among the species. Wood-boring beetles are very important components of the nutrient cycle in forests as they decompose the decaying wood, contribute to the regeneration of soil nutrients and facilitate the establishment of other insects[14] They infest living but weakened trees or untreated lumber, in which females (attracted by volatiles produced by dying or recently dead trees) place their eggs in crevices of trees affected by water stress or roots damaged by biotic or abiotic factors[8,11]. In European spruce forests, large-scale windthrow is usually connected with outbreaks of I. typophagus and results in extensive loss of trees[7] Such outbreaks of the pest species are caused mostly by changes in the natural or semi-natural environment that can be linked to anthropogenic activities, having a strong impact on the insect communities[29,30,31,32]
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