Trapping of ambrosia beetles by artificially produced lures in a oak forest

Abstract

Ambrosia beetles are among the most damaging forest pests. They are frequently moved intercontinentally and are therefore subject to quarantines. The objective of the current research was to determine whether two commercially produced lures for Trypodendron species also attract central European ambrosia beetles. In 2018, Theysohn<sup>®</sup> traps were deployed in an oak forest that also contained hornbeam and linden trees. Five pair of traps was baited with the standard synthetic pheromone lures, Trypowit<sup>®</sup> or Lineatin Kombi<sup>®</sup>. The 201 adults of ambrosia bark beetles that were trapped were identified to eight species, which represents almost the entire spectrum of oak ambrosia scolytids in the region. Trypodendron domesticum, Xyleborinus saxesenii, and Xyleborus monographus were the most abundant species and exhibited a slight preference for the lure with a higher content of alcohols (Lineatin Kombi<sup>®</sup>). Both lures attracted T. lineatum because both contain lineatin. The number of beetles trapped was low probably because food sources (damaged or wilting oaks) were rare and because the forest was surrounded by agricultural land and therefore isolated from other oak forests.

Ambrosia Beetles Prefer Closed Canopies: A Case Study in Oak Forests in Central Europe

“…A high availability of suitable breeding substrate (e.g., winddamaged or highly stressed trees) at the forest-stand scale seems to enhance T. domesticum population densities and attack rates, e.g., [49] break of bark beetles on spruce has resulted in the increased harvesting of spruce and the suspension of deciduous forest harvesting. As a result, suitable host trees are scarce in oak forests, and the abundance of T. domesticum has been low see also [50].…”

“…The abundance of scolytids increases with resource availability [9,74]. In addition, the abundances of the invasive ambrosia beetles X. attenuatus and C. bodoanum were previously found to be positively correlated with the net area occupied by oaks, because both of these species live in oaks and other deciduous trees [40,49,50,75].…”

A monitoring network for the detection of invasive ambrosia and bark beetles in the Czech Republic: principles and proposed design

“…A total of three species of BB, Cyclorhipidion bodoanum, Gnathotrichus materiarius, and X. germanus, were captured (Inward, 2020). (Knížek, 1988;Procházka et al, 2018;Fiala and Holuša, 2019;Fiala et al, 2020Fiala et al, , 2021Fiala et al, , 2023. Furthermore, several introduced species that could not form a stable population due to an unfavorable climate or absence of host plants were found in the territory of the Czech Republic: Coccotrypes dactyliperda Fabricius, 1801, Hypothenemus areccae Hornung, 1842, Hypothenemus hampei Ferrari, 1867, Hypothenemus setosus Eichhoff, 1868, Xyleborus affinis Eichhoff, 1868, Xyleborus volvulus Fabricius, 1794, and Xylosandrus morigerus Blandford, 1894 (Reitter, 1913;Fleischer, 1927Fleischer, -1930Pfeffer and Knížek, 1989).…”

“…There are six species of BB in the Czech Republic with a stable population in the wild (Knížek, 1988;Procházka et al, 2018;Fiala and Holuša, 2019;Fiala et al, 2020Fiala et al, , 2021, and other species can be expected to occur in this territory (Gebhardt, 2014;Gebhardt and Doerfler, 2018). In the Czech Republic, there are no guidelines or methods for the early detection of BB.…”

“…Therefore, it is necessary to create a stable network of traps for monitoring invasive species of ambrosia and bark beetles. To determine the methodology, several experiments were carried out in the Czech Republic, providing basic knowledge about the spread of BB and their bionomics in the Czech Republic Holuša, 2019, 2020;Fiala et al, 2020;Holuša et al, 2021;Fiala et al, 2023).…”