Nonstructural carbohydrate dynamics of lodgepole pine dying from mountain pine beetle attack

Bark beetle outbreaks are an important cause of tree death, but the process by which trees die remains poorly understood. The effect of beetle attack on whole‐tree nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) dynamics is particularly unclear, despite the potential role of carbohydrates in plant defense and surv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The New phytologist 2016-01, Vol.209 (2), p.550-562
Main Authors: Wiley, Erin, Rogers, Bruce J, Hodgkinson, Robert, Landhäusser, Simon M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Bark
bark beetles
Beetles
biotic attack
Body organs
British Columbia
Carbohydrate Metabolism
Carbohydrates
Coleoptera
correlation
Dendroctonus ponderosae
Drought
Dynamics
flight
Girdling
Herbivory
lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta)
mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae)
Mountains
nonstructural carbon
Organs
Outbreaks
Pest outbreaks
Pine
Pine needles
Pine trees
Pinus - physiology
Pinus contorta
Pinus contorta var. latifolia
Saccharides
Scolytidae
sugars
Survival
tree mortality
tree trunk
Trees
water stress
Weevils
Xylem - metabolism
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Summary:Bark beetle outbreaks are an important cause of tree death, but the process by which trees die remains poorly understood. The effect of beetle attack on whole‐tree nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) dynamics is particularly unclear, despite the potential role of carbohydrates in plant defense and survival. We monitored NSC dynamics of all organs in attacked and protected lodgepole pines (Pinus contorta) during a mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreak in British Columbia, starting before beetle flight in June 2011 through October 2012, when most attacked trees had died. Following attack, NSC concentrations were first reduced in the attacked region of the bole. The first NSC reduction in a distant organ appeared in the needles at the end of 2011, while branch and root NSC did not decline until much later in 2012. Attacked trees that were still alive in October 2012 had less beetle damage, which was negatively correlated with initial bark sugar concentrations in the attack region. The NSC dynamics of dying trees indicate that trees were killed by a loss of water conduction and not girdling. Further, our results identify locally reduced carbohydrate availability as an important mechanism by which stressors like drought may increase tree susceptibility to biotic attack.
ISSN:0028-646X
1469-8137
DOI:10.1111/nph.13603