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Do visual cues associated with larger diameter trees influence host selection by Tetropium fuscum (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2017

Tyler D. Nelson ,
Jon D. Sweeney  and
Neil Kirk Hillier
Tyler D. Nelson
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Acadia University, 33 Westwood Avenue, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, B4P 2R6, Canada Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, 116 Street and 85 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2R3, Canada
Jon D. Sweeney*
Affiliation:
Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service – Atlantic Forestry Centre, 1350 Regent Street, Fredericton, New Brunswick, E3B 5P7, Canada
Neil Kirk Hillier
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Acadia University, 33 Westwood Avenue, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, B4P 2R6, Canada
*
1Corresponding author (e-mail: jon.sweeney@canada.ca)
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Abstract

Tetropium fuscum (Fabricius) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) is an invasive phloeophagous beetle established in Atlantic Canada that infests stressed and moribund Picea Dietrich (Pinaceae) species. Successfully colonised trees tend to be large in diameter (>10 cm diameter at breast height), but whether diameter influences host selection, larval performance, or both, is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that T. fuscum host selection is influenced by visual cues associated with tree diameter by counting the number of adults landing on 29 Picea rubens Sargent ranging in diameter at breast height from 12.2 to 37.5 cm. All trees were wrapped with sticky bands and baited with aggregation pheromone and host volatiles to make them equally attractive with regard to olfactory cues. We found significant positive relationships between the mean number of T. fuscum per sticky band and tree diameter, and also between phloem thickness and tree diameter. We conclude that the positive association between host diameter and T. fuscum infestation is at least partially due to the positive influence of diameter on landing rate, and that this may benefit the beetle because larger diameter trees have more food for developing larvae. However, there was no effect of tree diameter on the mean number of adults per m2 of sticky band and thus no evidence that T. fuscum actively selects larger diameter hosts based on visual cues. The positive relationship between landing rate and host diameter may simply be due to greater chances of airborne beetles being passively intercepted on larger versus smaller trees.

Type
Behaviour & Ecology - Note
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 149 , Issue 4 , August 2017 , pp. 487 - 490
Copyright
© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada 2017 

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Footnotes

Subject editor: Kevin Floate

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