Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Ecology and Evolution
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Open Access
Publication Date
10-19-2015
Disciplines
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | Life Sciences
Abstract
The importance of symbiotic microbes to insects cannot be overstated; however, we have a poor understanding of the evolutionary processes that shape most insect–microbe interactions. Many bark beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae) species are involved in what have been described as obligate mutualisms with symbiotic fungi. Beetles benefit through supplementing their nutrient- poor diet with fungi and the fungi benefit through gaining transportation to resources. However, only a few beetle–fungal symbioses have been experimentally manipulated to test whether the relationship is obligate. Furthermore, none have tested for adaptation of beetles to their specific symbionts, one of the requirements for coevolution. We experimentally manipulated the western pine beetle–fungus symbiosis to determine whether the beetle is obligately dependent upon fungi and to test for fine-scale adaptation of the beetle to one of its symbiotic fungi, Entomocorticium sp. B. We reared beetles from a single population with either a natal isolate of E. sp. B (isolated from the same population from which the beetles originated), a non-natal isolate (a genetically divergent isolate from a geographically distant beetle population), or with no fungi. We found that fungi were crucial for the successful development of western pine beetles. We also found no significant difference in the effects of the natal and non-natal isolate on beetle fitness parameters. However, brood adult beetles failed to incorporate the non-natal fungus into their fungal transport structure (mycangium) indicating adaption by the beetle to particular genotypes of symbiotic fungi. Our results suggest that beetle–fungus mutualisms and symbiont fidelity may be maintained via an undescribed recognition mechanism of the beetles for particular symbionts that may promote particular associations through time.
Keywords
Dendroctonus, Entomocorticium, mutalism, mycangia, symbiosis
Rights
© 2015. The Authors.
DOI
10.1002/ece3.1772
Recommended Citation
Ryan, Bracewell R. and Six, Diana, "Experimental evidence of bark beetle adaptation to a fungal symbiont" (2015). Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences Faculty Publications. 57.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/decs_pubs/57
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.