Southern Research Station

Title: Dose-dependent pheromone responses of mountain pine beetle in stands of lodgepole pine

Author: Miller, Daniel R.; Lindgren, B. Staffan; Borden, John H.

Date: 2005

Source: Environmental Entomology Vol. 34(5): 1019-1027

Description: We conducted seven behavioral choice tests with Lindgren multiple-funnel traps in stands of mature lodgepole pine in British Columbia, from 1988 to 1994, to determine the dosedependent responses of the mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, to its pheromones. Amultifunctional dose-dependent response was exhibited by D. ponderosae to the pheromones cis- and trans-verbenol in areas with low population numbers. In an area with a high population level of D. ponderosae, the response was directly proportional to release rates. No dose-dependent response was exhibited by D. ponderosae to exo-brevicomin at low release rates. At rates of release
>.5 mg/d, exo-brevicomin interrupted the attraction of D. ponderosae in a dose-dependent fashion. The bark beetle predators, Enoclerus sphegeus (F.) and Thanasimus undatulus (Say), showed dose-dependent responses to only a few pheromones, with trap catches directly proportional to release rates. The multi-functional response of D. ponderosae to verbenols is consistent with an optimal attack density hypothesis.

Keywords: Dendroctonus ponderosae, exo-brevicomin, verbenols, cleridae

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Citation

Miller, Daniel R.; Lindgren, B. Staffan; Borden, John H.  2005.  Dose-dependent pheromone responses of mountain pine beetle in stands of lodgepole pine.   Environmental Entomology Vol. 34(5): 1019-1027