Recent studies have investigated relationships between pairs or groups of exotic species to illustrate invasive mechanisms, but most have focused on interactions at a single trophic level. Here, we conducted pathogenicity tests, analyses of host volatiles, and fungal growth tests to elucidate an intricate network of interactions between the host tree, the invasive red turpentine beetle, and its fungal associates.Seedlings inoculated with two strains of Leptographium procerum isolated from Dendroctonus valens in China had significantly longer lesions and higher mortality rates than seedlings inoculated with other fungal isolates. These two strains of L. procerum were significantly more tolerant of 3-carene than all other fungi isolated there, and infection of Chinese pine (Pinus tabuliformis) seedlings by these two strains enhanced production and release of 3-carene, the main attractant for D. valens, by the seedlings. Our results raise the possibility that interactions among the fungal associates of D. valens and their pine hosts in China may confer advantages to these strains of L. procerum and, by extension, to the beetles themselves. These interactions may, therefore, enhance invasion by the beetle/fungal complex.

This work was supported by the grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30525009 and 30621003) and Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Lu M, Wingfield MJ, Gillette NE, Mori SR, Sun J-H*, 2010. Complex interactions among host pines and fungi vectored by an invasive bark beetle. New Phytologist Doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03316.x.