Spatial community structure of mountain pine beetle fungal symbionts across a latitudinal gradient.

ABSTRACT: Symbiont redundancy in obligate insect-fungal systems is thought to buffer the insect host against symbiont loss and to extend the environmental conditions under which the insect can persist. The mountain pine beetle is associated with at least three well-known and putatively obligate ophiostomatoid fungal symbionts that vary in their environmental tolerances. To better understand the spatial variation in beetle-fungal symbiotic associations, we examined the community composition of ophiostomatoid fungi associated with the mountain pine beetle as a function of latitude and elevation. The region investigated represents the leading edge of a recent outbreak of mountain pine beetle in western Canada. Using regression and principal components analysis, we identified significant spatial pattern

SUBMITTER: Roe AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3155041 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature