Tuesday 22nd March, E0.05, John Dalton East Building from 1.00-2.00 pm.
Lunch, and an opportunity to chat with the speaker, will be in room E402, John Dalton East Building from 12:30. All are invited!
Dr Robin Sen, Edda Oddsdottir, Jørgen Eilenberg and Gudmundur Halldorsson
Effects of Insect Pathogenic Fungi and Ectomycorrhizal Fungal Inoculation of Birch Seedlings on the Survival of Otiorhynchus Larvae in Icelandic soils
Icelandic foresters have been charged with increasing forest cover from current levels of around 1.5% to 5% of land area in the next four decades. Forest regeneration involving both non-native conifers and native downy birch (Betula pubescens) is being mainly achieved through nursery seedling transplantation but variable establishment success rates have been attributed to root herbivory by weevil larvae of a number of opportunistic Otiorhynchus spp. (Order: Coleoptera; Family: Curculionidae). With the increasing withdrawal of common chemical insecticides from registration, more sustainable pest control measures are now being prioritised. In order to assess the potential of a novel multi-fungal biological control strategy, experiments involving factorial inoculation of birch seedlings with root symbiotic ectomycorrhizal fungi and the insect pathogenic fungus (Metarhizium anisopliae) in controlled pot experiments and field trials were carried out. Early reductions in root herbivory and improved seedling survival rates detected in single and dual inoculation treatments were found to be also dependent on soil and site characteristics that point to the involvement of further biotic and abiotic factors in pest control success. The data not only highlights the great potential for biological control of these invertebrate herbivores but also the urgent need for a better understanding of multitrophic host-pest-microbe-soil interactions in development of sustainable plant pest control strategies.
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