PLANT FATTY ACIDS INFLUENCE BROOD DEVELOPMENT OF MOUNTAIN PINE BEETLE AND GROWTH OF ITS SYMBIOTIC FUNGUS: IMPLICATIONS TO HOST-RANGE EXPANSION OF AN HERBIVOROUS INSECT

• Author / Creator

  Ishangulyyeva, Guncha

• Nutritional composition of plants can affect the performance of insect herbivores and their associated microbial symbionts. Mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) is an important bark beetle species that colonizes many species of Pinus within its historical range and encounter host species with different nutritional compositions. This insect has recently expanded its host range to jack pine (P. banksiana) forests, which is considered a novel host in terms of encounters with D. ponderosae. The nutritional aspects of selecting this new host are largely unknown. Here, I tested whether the recent host of D. ponderosae contains similar fatty acid concentrations as the beetle’s historical hosts and whether such similarity influenced the host expansion of D. ponderosae. I demonstrated that historical (lodgepole pine, P. contorta) and novel hosts are distinguished from a non-host (Populus tremuloides) species of D. ponderosae by concentrations of phloem fatty acids, such as linoleic and alpha-linolenic acids. Furthermore, the resulting information provides new insights into the biological roles of plant fatty acids in the survival of D. ponderosae larvae and establishment of the beetle’s symbiotic fungus, Grosmannia clavigera.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Mountain pine beetle
  • Fatty acids in plants

• Graduation date

  Spring 2015

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3H96W

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.