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Plant-Insect Ecosystems

10-Minute Paper

P-IE: IPM On-Demand Presentations

The efficacy of Ceratocystis-infected ʻōhiʻa tree management strategies to prevent the spread of Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death

On-Demand
On-Demand

Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD) is a fungal disease spread through contaminated ambrosia beetle (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) frass that is decimating the keystone tree species of Hawaiʻi, ʻōhiʻa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha). The disease is caused by Ceratocystis lukuohia and Ceratocystis huliohia, and C. lukuohia is more virulent and widespread. As a forest disease, management of fungal inoculum is particularly complicated; the current practice is the felling of individual standing trees although the best post-felling methods are unclear. We tested the efficacy of three post-felling methods including tarping, insecticide, and untreated logs. Thirty ʻōhiʻa trees were inoculated with C. lukuohia and bucked into even piles that were subject to the three treatments. We monitored new beetle attacks for 8 weeks, measured the treatment effects on reproduction by rearing beetles four months after treatment, and monitored viability of the fungal propagules embedded in the ʻōhiʻa wood for two years after treatment. We found no significant difference among treatments in the number of beetle attacks beginning 5 weeks post-treatment. Most beetles were reared from the uncovered logs, followed by tarped and insecticide-treated piles. The viability of fungal propagules in the wood for all treatments was negligible after one year. Our results demonstrate that tarping and insecticide treatments did not reduce beetle attacks, although both reduced beetle reproduction. The felling and cutting of ROD-infected ʻōhiʻa likely expedites the drying of logs, ultimately reducing the amount of inoculum present in the environment.