Bark Beetles, Pityogenes bidentatus, Orienting to Aggregation Pheromone Avoid Conifer Monoterpene Odors When Flying but Not When Walking

Abstract

Previous studies and data presented here suggest that odors from healthy host Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris) and nonhost Norway spruce (Picea abies), as well as major monoterpenes of these trees at natural release rates, significantly reduce the attraction of flying bark beetles, Pityogenes bidentatus, of both sexes to their aggregation pheromone components grandisol and cis-verbenol in the field, as tested by slow rotation of trap pairs. In contrast, P. bidentatus males and females walking in an open-arena olfactometer in the laboratory did not avoid monoterpene vapors at release rates spanning several orders of magnitude in combination with aggregation pheromone. The bark beetle may avoid monoterpenes when flying as a mechanism for avoiding nonhost species, vigorous and thus unsuitable host trees, as well as harmful resinous areas of hosts. Inhibition of this flight avoidance response in beetles after landing would allow them to initiate, or to find and enter, gallery holes with high monoterpene vapor concentrations in order to feed and reproduce.