Publications
NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.
2008
Authors
Paal KrokeneAbstract
Combined bark beetle-fungus attacks are a key factor in conifer ecosystems in the Northern Hemisphere, where they regularly cause massive tree mortality. Central to the success of the bark beetle-fungus complex is the fact that bark beetles are among the few insects that are capable of breaching the potent anatomical and chemical defenses of healthy tree stems.....
Abstract
Tree-killing bark beetles conquer healthy trees by means of pheromone mediated mass-attacks. The initial attackers select trees through a process of random landing and processing of tactile and short-range chemical stimuli. Inside acceptable hosts they produce aggregation pheromones that attract additional attackers. In a recent field experiment we induced defense responses in 60-year-old Norway spruce trees and monitored colonization by the spruce bark beetle Ips typographus. Induced stem sections had significantly less beetle colonization than control sections, with shorter parental galleries and fewer eggs deposited. In addition, fewer beetles were attracted to beetles tunnelling in induced bark. This reduced ability to attract conspecifics suggests that induced host defenses interfere with beetle pheromone production or emission. The mechanisms responsible for this are unknown, but may involve emission of volatile terpenes such as (E)-b-farnesene and linalool, which have been shown to increase up to 100-fold in induced Norway spruce trees. These compounds have been reported to attract natural enemies of herbivores or repel herbivores directly in other conifer-insect interactions.
Abstract
Seed production in Norway spruce (Picea abies) seed orchards may be severely reduced by insects attacking cones and seeds. Insects in several orders and genera are responsible for the damage, and at present there are no effective and environmentally acceptable control options. Studies in Sweden have shown promising results with spraying Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki x aizawai) against species of Lepidoptera, but for other pests other control methods must be developed....
Authors
Bjørn ØklandAbstract
In recent years several forest insects have been recorded as newcomers or as more abundant than before towards northern latitudes and higher elevations in Norway. Such observations are from different groups of forest insect, including herbivorous geometrids, phloeophagous bark beetles and insects in cone seed .......
Abstract
The current report is a background for a Pest Risk Assessment (PRA) of the bark beetle species Ips amitinus in the PRA area of Norway, following the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures ISPM 11 (FAO 2004). The report is based on updated information about distribution, pathogenicity and ecological information, which add to a previous PRA for this species. It is concluded that the risk of establishment is high with the current import and management practices. I. amitinus may potentially cause significant tree damage alone or in interaction with Ips typographus; however, the outcome is very much dependent on scenarios of climate development and population dynamics.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Extensive timber imports represent potential introduction pathways for exotic bark beetles (Col: Scolytidae) that may pose ecological hazards and economical risks to native forests. One such species, Ips amitinus Eichh., has been intercepted several times at Norwegian ports of entry in the years since 2002, the year of the first Scandinavian record. Detection of overwintering individuals of I. amitinus at the timber storage site of import timber and preliminary results of a stepwise import model may suggest a high risk of establishment and spread in Norway spruce forests in Scandinavia.Using various modeling approaches, our goal is to reduce the risk of introduction, establishment, and spread of introduced bark beetles. Our objectives are to:model the processes of dispersal and establishment of arriving bark beetlesexplore to what extent an introduced species interacting with native Ips typographus L., the most dominant species in Norway spruce, will lead to stronger and more frequent outbreaks of I. typographusassess potential patterns of spread of newly established bark beetle species and the spatiotemporal outbreak dynamics resulting from interactions between native and introduced species; andadvise on the implications for forest industry and management.Here we present current efforts to model dispersal (objective 1). Dispersal patterns, and hence rates of establishment and spread, may vary considerably depending on dispersal behaviors of insects, such as directionality of movement and aggregation propensity. To assess underlying assumptions of dispersal models, we are using an individual-based model where traits governing dispersal are inherited with random mutations. Individual reproductive success is determined by resource availability and density-dependence in a simulated landscape governed by external forces (e.g., windfellings) and beetle activity (consumption of resources). Evolvable traits include straight line vs. random-walk flight paths and aggregation propensity.Model simulations show that the chance of successful reproduction is greatest for intermediate to high levels of directionality, and that directionality increases over time up to a certain point determined by the landscape features as well as other traits of the species. Assuming limited (local) information in a stochastic landscape, intermediate to high degree of flight directionality is selected for.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Arthropods were collected by fogging the canopy of Scots pine Pinus sylvestris selected from a 2 km2 boreal forest area in Sigdal, Norway with the overall purpose to examine whether there were faunal differences in the representation of arthropods among mature and old trees, and specifically for this paper, the biting midges (Ceratopogonidae). Target trees were chosen as pairs, one mature (70-110 years) and one old (250 years or older) tree from six different stands. All knock-down treatments were performed in June and July 1999, before dawn and after a dry and windless night. Knocked-down arthropods were collected in plastic funnels placed systematically on the ground. Funnels remained in place for circa one hour after treatment. Among the 61 species records new to Norway, the most frequently encountered taxon of invertebrates was Diptera, and the family of biting midges, Ceratopogonidae, comprised 30 of 61 (49%) of all new records, compared with the overall species numbers showing 40 biting midges of 193 recorded species (21%). Among the Ceratopogonidae new to Norway, two species new to science and two first records from Europe were found. Coleman rarefaction curves were constructed by running 500 iterations without replacements using EstimateS and showed that there were significantly more new records of Diptera in old trees in comparison with mature trees. A similar pattern of significance (by comparing standard deviations estimated by EstimateS) was found for Diptera when Ceratopogonidae was excluded. New species records of Ceratopogonidae were more common in old trees than in mature trees, although not significantly so. No predominance of new records in old trees was found for arthropods other than Diptera. Old trees are rare and may provide a variety of resources (e.g. resting sites, places to over-winter, hiding places, sites for oviposition, larval habitat, etc.) that are rarely found in younger trees. Thus, the high number of new species records probably result from studying a whole arthropod taxon (Diptera) in a part of a forest ecosystem (canopies) with a suite of microhabitats (old pine trees) that in combination has been poorly investigated earlier.