Spruce beetle can periodically cause extensive mortality in contiguous stands of mature spruce throughout northern and western North America. For example, it has killed approximately 2.5 million acres of spruce in Alaska in the past 10 years. Like most bark beetles, they vector several fungi, some of which may aid in nutrition, compete with developing beetles, assist in overcoming host resistance, or have other functions. This fungal complement may vary with population phase of the beetle. We surveyed spruce beetle for three years throughout the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska across a range of population densities, and examined levels of variation in their fungal associates. The ophiostomoid fungus Leptographium abietinum was the most prevalent. Nine other fungi were found in low abundances. Variation in fungal complement was greatest beetle to beetle. There was little variation among sites, and moderate variation among trees within sites. We discuss applications for developing general sampling methodologies of bark beetle-fungal associations.
Species 1: Coleoptera Scolytidae Dendroctonus rufipennis (spruce beetle)
Species 2: Hyphomycetes Leptographium abietinum
Keywords: spruce, sampling
Back to Student Competition Ten-Minute Papers, Ca2, Biological Control, Ce, Insect Pathology and Microbial Control, and Cf1, Quantitative Ecology
Back to Student Competition TMP Orals
Back to The 2003 ESA Annual Meeting and Exhibition