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Inducibility of chemical defenses in Norway spruce bark is correlated with unsuccessful mass attacks by the spruce bark beetle

  • Plant-animal interactions - Original research
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Abstract

Secondary attraction to aggregation pheromones plays a central role in the host colonization behavior of the European spruce bark beetle Ips typographus. However, it is largely unknown how the beetles pioneering an attack locate suitable host trees, and eventually accept or reject them. To find possible biomarkers for host choice by I. typographus, we analyzed the chemistry of 58 Norway spruce (Picea abies) trees that were subsequently either (1) successfully attacked and killed, (2) unsuccessfully attacked, or (3) left unattacked. The trees were sampled before the main beetle flight in a natural Norway spruce-dominated forest. No pheromones were used to attract beetles to the experimental trees. To test the trees’ defense potential, each tree was treated in a local area with the defense hormone methyl jasmonate (MeJ), and treated and untreated bark were analyzed for 66 different compounds, including terpenes, phenolics and alkaloids. The chemistry of MeJ-treated bark correlated strongly with the success of I. typographus attack, revealing major chemical differences between killed trees and unsuccessfully attacked trees. Surviving trees produced significantly higher amounts of most of the 39 analyzed mono-, sesqui-, and diterpenes and of 4 of 20 phenolics. Alkaloids showed no clear pattern. Differences in untreated bark were less pronounced, where only 1,8-cineole and (−)-limonene were significantly higher in unsuccessfully attacked trees. Our results show that the potential of individual P. abies trees for inducing defense compounds upon I. typographus attack may partly determine tree resistance to this bark beetle by inhibiting its mass attack.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the owners of the experiment forest, Bill Hansson and Susanne Erland, Parismåla, for their generous permission to use their forest for our experiments. Thanks for assisting in sampling to Muhammad Binyameen and Eyvind Plasgård. The assistance in chemical analyses by Björn Bohman and Mikael Olsson, Linnaeus University, Kalmar and Muhammad Binyameen, SLU, is highly appreciated. This study was funded by The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS), project number 2008-978 and The Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemical Ecology, Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 102, 230 53, Alnarp, Sweden

    Christian Schiebe, Göran Birgersson & Fredrik Schlyter

  2. Department of Biochemistry, Beutenberg Campus, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 07745, Jena, Germany

    Almuth Hammerbacher & Jonathan Gershenzon

  3. Department of Evolutionary Neuroethology, Beutenberg Campus, Max Planck Institute Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 07745, Jena, Germany

    Bill S. Hansson

  4. Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute, PO Box 115, N-1431, Ås, Norway

    Paal Krokene

  5. School of Natural Sciences, Linnaeus University, Norra vägen 49, 391 82, Kalmar, Sweden

    Peter E. Brodelius

  6. Southern Swedish Forest Research Center, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 49, 230 53, Alnarp, Sweden

    Johanna Witzell

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  1. Christian Schiebe
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  2. Almuth Hammerbacher
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Correspondence to Christian Schiebe.

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Communicated by Manuel Lerdau.

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Schiebe, C., Hammerbacher, A., Birgersson, G. et al. Inducibility of chemical defenses in Norway spruce bark is correlated with unsuccessful mass attacks by the spruce bark beetle. Oecologia 170, 183–198 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-012-2298-8

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