Forest Fire Influence on Tomicus piniperda-Associated Fungal Communities and Phloem Nutrient Availability of Colonized Pinus sylvestris.

ABSTRACT: Forest fire is known to positively affect bark beetle populations by providing fire-damaged trees with impaired defenses for infestation. Tomicus piniperda, the common pine shoot beetle, breeds and lays eggs under the bark of stressed pine trees and is considered a serious forest pest within its native range. Wood-colonizing fungi have been hypothesized to improve substrate quality and detoxify tree defensive chemistry to indirectly facilitate tree colonization by beetles. While some bark beetle species form symbiotic associations with fungi and actively vector their partners when colonizing new trees, T. piniperda does not have mycangia or body hairs for specific vectoring of fungi. To explore the T. piniperda-associated fungal community for signs of specific association, we used ITS meta

SUBMITTER: Kluting K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10293462 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature