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NIBIOs ansatte publiserer flere hundre vitenskapelige artikler og forskningsrapporter hvert år. Her finner du referanser og lenker til publikasjoner og andre forsknings- og formidlingsaktiviteter. Samlingen oppdateres løpende med både nytt og historisk materiale. For mer informasjon om NIBIOs publikasjoner, besøk NIBIOs bibliotek.

2018

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Yunnan pine is the most important tree species in SW China in both economical and ecological terms, but it is often killed by pine shoot beetles (Tomicus spp.). Tomicus beetles are secondary pests in temperate regions and the aggressiveness of the beetles in SW China is considered to be due to the warm subtropical climates as well as the beetles’ virulent fungal associates. Here, we assessed the virulence of three blue-stain fungi (Leptographium wushanense, L. sinense and Ophiostoma canum) associated with pine shoot beetles to Yunnan pine (Pinus yunnanensis) in SW China. Following fungal inoculation, we measured necrotic lesion lengths, antioxidant enzyme activities and monoterpene concentrations in the stem phloem of Yunnan pine. Leptographium wushanense induced twice as long lesions as L. sinense and O. canum, and all three fungi induced significantly longer lesions than sterile agar control inoculations. The activity of three tested antioxidant enzymes (peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase, and superoxide dismutase) increased after both fungal inoculation and control inoculation. However, L. wushanense and L. sinense generally caused a greater increase in enzyme activities than O. canum and the control treatment. Fungal inoculation induced stronger increases in six major monoterpenes than the control treatment, but the difference was significant only for some fungus-monoterpene combinations. Overall, our results show that L. wushanense and L. sinense elicit stronger defense responses and thus are more virulent to Yunnan pine than O. canum. The two Leptographium species may thus contribute to the aggressiveness of their beetle vectors and could damage Yunnan pine across SW China if they spread from the restricted geographical area they have been found in so far.

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The bark beetle Ips typographus carries numerous fungi that could be assisting the beetle in colonizing live Norway spruce (Picea abies) trees. Phenolic defenses in spruce phloem are degraded by the beetle's major tree-killing fungus Endoconidiophora polonica, but it is unknown if other beetle associates can also catabolize these compounds. We compared the ability of five fungi commonly associated with I. typographus to degrade phenolic compounds in Norway spruce phloem. Grosmannia penicillata and Grosmannia europhioides were able to degrade stilbenes and flavonoids faster than E. polonica and grow on minimal growth medium with spruce bark constituents as the only nutrients. Furthermore, beetles avoided medium amended with phenolics but marginally preferred medium colonized by fungi. Taken together our results show that different bark beetle-associated fungi have complementary roles in degrading host metabolites and thus might improve this insect's persistence in well defended host tissues.

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Olfaction is the most important sensory mechanism by which many insects interact with their environment and a wind tunnel is an excellent tool to study insect chemical ecology. Insects can locate point sources in a three-dimensional environment through the sensory interaction and sophisticated behavior. The quantification of this behavior is a key element in the development of new tools for pest control and decision support. A wind tunnel with a suitable flight section with laminar air flow, visual cues for in-flight feedback and a variety of options for the application of odors can be used to measure complex behaviour which subsequently may allow the identification of attractive or repellent odors, insect flight characteristics, visual-odor interactions and interactions between attractants and odors lingering as background odors in the environment. A wind tunnel holds the advantage of studying the odor mediated behavioural repertoire of an insect in a laboratory setting. Behavioural measures in a controlled setting provide the link between the insect physiology and field application. A wind tunnel must be a flexible tool and should easily support the changes to setup and hardware to fit different research questions. The major disadvantage to the wind tunnel setup described here, is the clean odor background which necessitates special attention when developing a synthetic volatile blend for field application.