Potential for range expansion of mountain pine beetle into the boreal forest of North America

Safranyik, L.; Carroll, Allan L.; Régnière, Jacques; Langor, David W.; Riel, W. G.; Shore, T. L.; Peter, Brian J.; Cooke, Barry J.; Nealis, Vincent G.; Taylor, Stephen

doi:10.4039/n08-cpa01

Cited by 373 publications

(400 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…These results provide a mechanistic link between two major environmental threats, transport of invasive species and climatedriven range expansions, in that lack of coevolved defense is an important driver of each (41,42,51). Mountain pine beetle has also expanded its northern range, where it is attacking lodgepole pines in historically unexposed areas, and has spread eastward to breach the geophysical barrier of the Rocky Mountains to attack hybrid lodgepole-jack pine, Pinus banksiana, in Alberta, Canada (7,56). Previous dispersal events likely deposited small numbers of beetles in these habitats, but populations quickly collapsed because of Allee effects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperature-driven range expansion of an irruptive insect heightened by weakly coevolved plant defenses

Raffa¹,

Powell²,

Townsend

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

185

202

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Warming climate has increased access of native bark beetles to high-elevation pines that historically received only intermittent exposure to these tree-killing herbivores. Here we show that a dominant, relatively naïve, high-elevation species, whitebark pine, has inferior defenses against mountain pine beetle compared with its historical lower-elevation host, lodgepole pine. Lodgepole pines respond by exuding more resin and accumulating higher concentrations of toxic monoterpenes than whitebark pine, where they co-occur. Furthermore, the chemical composition of whitebark pine appears less able to inhibit the pheromonal communication beetles use to jointly overcome tree defenses. Despite whitebark pine's inferior defenses, beetles were more likely to attack their historical host in mixed stands. This finding suggests there has been insufficient sustained contact for beetles to alter their complex behavioral mechanisms driving host preference. In no-choice assays, however, beetles readily entered and tunneled in both hosts equally, and in stands containing less lodgepole pine, attacks on whitebark pines increased. High-elevation trees in pure stands may thus be particularly vulnerable to temperature-driven range expansions. Predators and competitors were more attracted to volatiles from herbivores attacking their historical host, further increasing risk in less coevolved systems. Our results suggest cold temperatures provided a sufficient barrier against herbivores for high-elevation trees to allocate resources to other physiological processes besides defense. Changing climate may reduce the viability of that evolutionary strategy, and the life histories of high-elevation trees seem unlikely to foster rapid counter adaptation. Consequences extend from reduced food supplies for endangered grizzly bears to altered landscape and hydrological processes.climate change | coevolution | disturbance | plant-insect interactions | forest insects

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperature-driven range expansion of an irruptive insect heightened by weakly coevolved plant defenses

Raffa¹,

Powell²,

Townsend

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

185

202

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“…Reduced carbon gain can result in the depletion of carbohydrate reserves for biosynthesis of defensive compounds, particularly carbon-based compounds such as terpenoids that could make trees more susceptible to biotic stress factors, such as bark beetles (McDowell et al, 2008;Breshears et al, 2009). Water deficit is one of the climatic variables used in climate-suitability models for MPB populations; in these models, it reduces the resistance of lodgepole pine to attack and subsequent development and survival of the beetle (Safranyik et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Water Stress and Fungal Inoculation on Monoterpene Emission from an Historical and a New Pine Host of the Mountain Pine Beetle

et al. 2011

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The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae, MPB) has killed millions of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) trees in Western Canada, and recent range expansion has resulted in attack of jack pine (Pinus banksiana) in Alberta. Establishment of MPB in the Boreal forest will require use of jack pine under a suite of environmental conditions different from those it typically encounters in its native range. Lodgepole and jack pine seedlings were grown under controlled environment conditions and subjected to either water deficit or well watered conditions and inoculated with Grosmannia clavigera, a MPB fungal associate. Soil water content, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, and emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were monitored over the duration of the six-week study. Monoterpene content of bark and needle tissue was measured at the end of the experiment. β-Phellandrene, the major monoterpene in lodgepole pine, was almost completely lacking in the volatile emission profile of jack pine. The major compound in jack pine was α-pinene. The emission of both compounds was positively correlated with stomatal conductance. 3-Carene was emitted at a high concentration from jack pine seedlings, which is in contrast to monoterpene profiles of jack pine from more southern and eastern parts of its range. Fungal inoculation caused a significant increase in total monoterpene emission in water deficit lodgepole pine seedlings right after its application. By 4 weeks into the experiment, water deficit seedlings of both species released significantly lower levels of total monoterpenes than well watered seedlings. Needle tissue contained lower total monoterpene content than bark. Generally, monoterpene tissue content increased over time independent from any treatment. The results suggest that monoterpenes that play a role in pine-MPB interactions differ between lodgepole and jack pine, and also that they are affected by water availability.

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“…The mountain pine beetle is the most damaging insect of pine (Pinus Linnaeus; Pinaceae) in western North America (Bentz et al 2010;Safranyik et al 2010), attacking most pine species, although it is particularly prevalent on lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta latifolia (Engelmann) Critchfield; Pinaceae). Recent outbreaks have caused widespread and severe mortality, affecting more than 18 × 10 6 ha of forest and 723 × 10 6 m 3 of timber in British Columbia alone (Nealis and Cooke 2014).…”

Section: Mountain Pine Beetlementioning

confidence: 99%

Remote sensing of forest pest damage: a review and lessons learned from a Canadian perspective

et al. 2016

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Potential for range expansion of mountain pine beetle into the boreal forest of North America

Cited by 373 publications

References 67 publications

Temperature-driven range expansion of an irruptive insect heightened by weakly coevolved plant defenses

Temperature-driven range expansion of an irruptive insect heightened by weakly coevolved plant defenses

Effect of Water Stress and Fungal Inoculation on Monoterpene Emission from an Historical and a New Pine Host of the Mountain Pine Beetle

Remote sensing of forest pest damage: a review and lessons learned from a Canadian perspective

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