Morphometric changes of the pine wood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner & Buhrer) Nickle, under different environmental conditions

Abstract

Summary The pathogen of pine wilt disease, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, has caused serious damage to forest ecology and the forestry economy. As an invasive species, the reproduction ability of B. xylophilus is a significant factor that influences its pathogenicity. There are few reports on the morphometric changes to B. xylophilus in different environments. This paper describes our study of the effects of fungal species, B. xylophilus population density, and nutrition on the growth and development of B. xylophilus and the comparative fitness of different-sized eggs in this species. The results showed that B. xylophilus could feed on different fungal species, but there were differences in the sizes of adult females and eggs and the number of offspring. Adult female size, egg size and number of offspring of B. xylophilus decreased as the population densities increased or mycelium weight decreased. The results also showed that larger eggs had a fitness advantage over smaller eggs under the experimental treatment conditions.