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Articles by Niklas Björklund

Category : Research article

article id 9946, category Research article
Frauke Fedderwitz, Niklas Björklund, Velemir Ninkovic, Göran Nordlander. (2018). Does the pine weevil (Hylobius abietis) prefer conifer seedlings over other main food sources? Silva Fennica vol. 52 no. 3 article id 9946. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.9946
Keywords: Pinus sylvestris; Picea abies; forest regeneration; feeding preference; herbivore; plant tissues
Highlights: Adult pine weevils feed on seedlings and mature conifers, but cause economic damage only on seedlings; Their feeding preferences for branches and roots over seedlings were tested in a laboratory experiment; The only clear preference was for Norway spruce roots; Results support new approaches of seedling protection attempting to redirect pine weevils from planted seedlings to other food sources.
Abstract | Full text in HTML | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Adult pine weevils (Hylobius abietis (L.)) feed on the tender bark of branches and roots of mature conifer trees and on the stem bark of conifer seedlings. Their feeding on mature trees does not cause any economic damage, but their feeding on planted seedlings is so devastating that the pine weevil is considered one of the most important forest pest insects in Europe. We asked whether the pine weevil prefers seedlings over other regularly utilized food sources. This question is of particular interest because new approaches to seedling protection are based on decreasing any preference for seedlings by using less palatable plants or by enhancing their defence (by genetic selection or by methyl jasmonate treatment). In a laboratory choice experiment we tested pine weevil feeding preferences for seedlings compared with branches and roots from mature trees (separately for Norway spruce and Scots pine). Pine weevils preferred roots, but not branches, of Norway spruce over seedlings of the same species. With Scots pine there were no clear preferences, but the weevils showed a tendency to prefer roots over seedlings. These results provide support for seedling protection approaches that attempt to redirect pine feeding from planted seedlings to other food sources.

  • Fedderwitz, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7044, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden E-mail: frauke.fedderwitz@slu.se (email)
  • Björklund, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7044, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden E-mail: niklas.bjorklund@slu.se
  • Ninkovic, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7044, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden E-mail: velemir.ninkovic@slu.se
  • Nordlander, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7044, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden E-mail: goran.nordlander@slu.se

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