In the Białowieża Forest, Norway spruce is the preferred host tree species for wood ants, both in coniferous and mixed stands; thus, spruce mortality as a consequence of a continuous spruce bark beetle outbreak in the Białowieża Forest since 2012 could have severe consequences for wood ant colonies, as well as their vitality and distribution. The main aim of this study was to assess whether the bark beetle outbreak had any effects on wood ant nest density and abundance and whether we could find any factors affecting the dead spruce distribution around ant nests. A re-inventory of active and abandoned wood ant nests in our study area was conducted from April to July 2022, using the same procedure as the previous inventory performed in 2016. The wood ant nest density was 0.11 per ha and remained practically the same relative to that determined in 2016. Our results indicate that, despite the importance of spruce for wood ants, in situations when only part of the spruce trees die, natural forest disturbances such as bark beetle outbreaks can actually have positive effects because more light can reach the forest floor, thereby promoting the establishment of new nests.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects15110840 | DOI Listing |
Bull Math Biol
December 2024
Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
Insects, especially forest pests, are frequently characterized by eruptive dynamics. These types of species can stay at low, endemic population densities for extended periods of time before erupting in large-scale outbreaks. We here present a mechanistic model of these dynamics for mountain pine beetle.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Biol Macromol
December 2024
Key Laboratory of Forest Disaster Warning and Control of Yunnan Province, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China. Electronic address:
Three Tomicus bark beetles (T. yunnanensis, T. brevipilosus and T.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPest Manag Sci
December 2024
Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
Background: Acanthacoccus lagerstroemiae (crape myrtle bark scale, CMBS) is an exotic scale insect that feeds on the sap of crape myrtle trees. Heavy infestations of CMBS reduce flowering and honeydew promotes sooty mold growth on the leaves and branches, reducing the aesthetic value of crape myrtle trees in urban landscapes. Lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) are generalist predators that feed on CMBS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenome Biol Evol
December 2024
Institute of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University, 30-387 Kraków, Poland.
R Soc Open Sci
December 2024
Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
also known as southern pine beetle (SPB), is the most damaging insect forest pest in the southeastern United States. Genomic data are important to provide information on pest biology and to identify molecular targets to develop improved pest management approaches. Here, we produced a chromosome-level genome assembly of SPB using long-read sequencing data.
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