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The effect of environmentally induced changes in the bark of young conifers on feeding behaviour and reproductive development of adult Hylobius abietis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

D. Wainhouse*
Affiliation:
Forest Research, Alice Holt Lodge, Wrecclesham, Farnham, Surrey, GU10 4LH, UK
J. Staley
Affiliation:
Forest Research, Alice Holt Lodge, Wrecclesham, Farnham, Surrey, GU10 4LH, UK
J. Johnston
Affiliation:
Forest Research, Alice Holt Lodge, Wrecclesham, Farnham, Surrey, GU10 4LH, UK
R. Boswell
Affiliation:
Forest Research, Alice Holt Lodge, Wrecclesham, Farnham, Surrey, GU10 4LH, UK
*
*Fax: 01420 23653 E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Young plants of Sitka spruce, Scots and Corsican pine were subject to high and low light, and high and low nitrogen treatments in a polyhouse experiment. The effect of treatments on resin duct size and nitrogen concentration in stem bark was determined together with feeding by Hylobius abietis Linnaeus on the stems of ‘intact’ plants and on ‘detached’ stems cut from the plant. Resin duct size was largest on Corsican pine and smallest on Sitka spruce and inherent variation in duct size between the three conifer species appears to determine the pattern of weevil feeding between species. Resin ducts and the flow of resin from them protect the stems of young conifers from weevil feeding not by affecting the total amount of bark eaten but by limiting the depth of feeding and so protecting the inner phloem and cambium. Shallow feeding may increase the likelihood of effective wound repair. Duct size was positively related to plant growth and in particular increased with bark thickness. Overall, ducts were largest in the high light treatment although species differed in their response to the treatment. It is suggested that the effects of plant size, growing conditions and transplantation on susceptiblilty to attack by H. abietis, reported in various studies, may be due to underlying variation in resin duct size or flow rate. The effect on weevils of super-ficial feeding on stems is to increase the time for reproductive maturation by reducing consumption of the inner bark which has a higher nitrogen content.

Type
Review Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

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