Publication Type: | Journal Article |
: | 2010 |
Authors: | S. P. Cook, Shirley, B. M., Zambino, P. J. |
Journal: | Environmental Entomology |
Volume: | 39 |
Pagination: | 821-826 |
Date Published: | Jun |
: | 0046-225X |
: | Individual lodgepole pines (Pious conform) were fertilized with urea at nitrogen (N) inputs equivalent to 0, 315, or 630 kg/ha Four months after application of the fertilizer, inner bark tissue N concentrations were significantly higher in the trees that had received the low dose (315 kg/ha) fertilization treatment than in the control trees; trees that had received the high-dose treatment (630 kg/ha) were intermediate and not significantly different from either of the other treatments. There was a significant positive correlation between N concentration in inner bark tissue and larval mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae (Coleoptera Curculionidae, Scolytinae). In vitro studies on synthetic growth media examined effects of temperature and N concentration on N concentration of two common fungal associates of the mountain pine beetle (Ophiostoma clavigerum and Ophiostoma montium). Increasing N concentration in growth media significantly increased fungal N concentrations in both O. clavigerum and O. montium. Furthermore, N concentration was consistently higher in O. clavigerum than in O. montium. Neither species had sufficient growth at 30[degree]C, nor did O. clavigerum at 15[degree]C, to test N concentration. However, for O. montium, increasing temperatures decreased fungal N concentrations. There was no correlation between N concentration of O. clavigerum and growth temperature. Potential impacts of ingestion of the fungal species by developing mountain pine beetle larvae-infesting trees under various environmental conditions such as increasing temperatures are discussed. |