Investigating the threat to Sitka spruce from Ips typographus: discrimination and colonization of Britain's principal commercial conifer by a damaging forest pest.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Ips typographus (L.), the eight-toothed spruce bark beetle (Coleoptera: Scolytinae), has devastated European Norway spruce (Picea abies) forests in recent years. For the first time, I. typographus has established localized breeding populations in Britain, where Sitka spruce (P. sitchensis) is a critical component of plantation forestry. The interactions between Norway spruce and I. typographus are well understood, but relatively little is known about the susceptibility of Sitka spruce to the beetle. This study aimed to determine whether I. typographus would select Sitka, compared to Norway spruce, as a host for breeding, and to study the chemical ecology underlying these host preferences.

Results

Host choice assays were conducted in the laboratory using freshly cu

SUBMITTER: Inward D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12539388 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature