How the mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) breached the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

ABSTRACT: The mountain pine beetle (MPB; Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins), a major pine forest pest native to western North America, has extended its range north and eastward during an ongoing outbreak. Determining how the MPB has expanded its range to breach putative barriers, whether physical (nonforested prairie and high elevation of the Rocky Mountains) or climatic (extreme continental climate where temperatures can be below -40 °C), may contribute to our general understanding of range changes as well as management of the current epidemic. Here, we use a panel of 1,536 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to assess population genetic structure, connectivity, and signals of selection within this MPB range expansion. Biallelic SNPs in MPB from southwestern Canada revealed higher genetic differen

SUBMITTER: Janes JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4069619 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature