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Electrophysiological and Behavioral Responses of the Bark Beetle Dendroctonus rhizophagus to Volatiles from Host Pines and Conspecifics

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Abstract

The bark beetle Dendroctonus rhizophagus is endemic to northwestern Mexico where it kills immature pines < 3 m tall. We report the first investigation of the chemical ecology of this pest of forest regeneration. We used GC-EAD to assess olfactory sensitivity of this species to volatile compounds from: resin of a major host, Pinus arizonica; mid/hindguts of single, gallery-initiating females; and mate-paired males within galleries of attacked host trees in the field. Antennae of both sexes responded to monoterpenes α-pinene, β-pinene and 3-carene as well as to the beetle-derived oxygenated monoterpenes fenchyl alcohol, myrtenal, cis-verbenol, trans-verbenol, verbenone, and myrtenol. These monoterpenes were quantified from pre-emerged D. rhizophagus adults forced to attack host tissue in the laboratory, and from individuals dissected from naturally-attacked hosts at different stages of colonization. In both bioassays, myrtenol and trans-verbenol were the most abundant volatiles, and trans-verbenol was the only one produced in significantly greater quantities by females than males in a naturally-colonized host. Two field experiments were performed to evaluate behavioral responses of D. rhizophagus to antennally-active monoterpenes. Results show that 3-carene was significantly attractive either alone or in a ternary (1:1:1) combination with α-pinene and β-pinene, whereas neither α-pinene nor β-pinene alone were attractive. None of the beetle-associated oxygenated monoterpenes enhanced the attractiveness of the ternary mixture of monoterpenes, while verbenone either alone or combined with the other five oxygenated terpenes reduced D. rhizophagus attraction to the ternary mixture. The results suggest that attraction of D. rhizophagus to the host tree P. arizonica is mediated especially by 3-carene. There was no conclusive evidence for an aggregation or sex attractant pheromone.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Karina Martínez, Héctor García, Adrian Sotelo, Fernanda López, Veronica Pineda, Karina Cesar, Jesús Morales, Alicia Niño, Daniel Antonio, Marco Espinal, and Ramón Cisneros for assistance in collecting insects, and to Lic. Jaime Chávez and COPAMEX for providing us access to installations and for logistic support in San Juanito Chihuahua. The project was funded by Comisión Nacional Forestal-Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONAFOR-CONACYT 69539) and Secretaría de Investigación y Posgrado-IPN (SIP-20090576). This work was part of CCR’s Ph.D. dissertation. She was a Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (202060) and Programa Institucional de Formación de Investigadores del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (PIFI-IPN) fellowship. B.T.S. was supported by the Southern Research Station and J.E.M.S by Synergy Semiochemical Corporation Inc.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Zoología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Prol. de Carpio y Plan de Ayala. Col. Sto. Tomas, México D. F., 11340, Mexico

    Claudia Cano-Ramírez, Francisco Armendáriz-Toledano & Gerardo Zúñiga

  2. El Colegio de la Frontera Sur ECOSUR, Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto km 2.5, Tapachula, Chiapas, 30700, Mexico

    Jorge E. Macías-Sámano

  3. USDA-Forest Service Southern Research Station, 2500 Shreveport Highway, Pineville, LA, 71360, USA

    Brian T. Sullivan

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  1. Claudia Cano-Ramírez
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  2. Francisco Armendáriz-Toledano
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  5. Gerardo Zúñiga
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Correspondence to Gerardo Zúñiga.

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Fig. S1

Linear response for each compound: (a) fenchyl alcohol, (b) cis-verbenol, (c) myrtenal, (d) trans-verbenol, (e) myrtenol, and (f) verbenone; used in the response curves for the quantification of compounds (JPEG 490 kb).

Fig. S2

Mass spectra of each compounds analyzed: (a) myrtenol, (b) trans-verbenol, (c) myrtenal, (d) cis-verbenol, (e) verbenone, and (f) cycloheptanone as internal standard showing the absence of co-eluting compounds. (PDF 718 kb)

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Cano-Ramírez, C., Armendáriz-Toledano, F., Macías-Sámano, J.E. et al. Electrophysiological and Behavioral Responses of the Bark Beetle Dendroctonus rhizophagus to Volatiles from Host Pines and Conspecifics. J Chem Ecol 38, 512–524 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-012-0112-z

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