title: Insect herbivory (Choristoneura fumiferana, Tortricidea) underlies tree population structure (Picea glauca, Pinaceae).
abstract: Variation in insect herbivory can lead to population structure in plant hosts as indicated by defence traits. In annual herbaceous, defence traits may vary between geographic areas but evidence of such patterns is lacking for long-lived species. This may result from the variety of selection pressures from herbivores, long distance gene flow, genome properties, and lack of research. We investigated the antagonistic interaction between white spruce (Picea glauca) and spruce budworm (SBW, Choristoneura fumiferana) the most devastating forest insect of eastern North America in common garden experiments. White spruces that are able to resist SBW attack were reported to accumulate the acetophenones piceol and pungenol constitutively in their foliage. We show that levels of these acetophenones and transcripts of the gene responsible for their release is highly heritable and that their accumulation is synchronized with the most devastating stage of SBW. Piceol and pungenol concentrations negatively correlate with rate of development in female SBW and follow a non-random geographic variation pattern that is partially explained by historical damage from SBW and temperature. Our results show that accumulation of acetophenones is an efficient resistance mechanism against SBW in white spruce and that insects can affect population structure of a long-lived plant.
authors.affiliation: Centre d'étude de la forêt, Département des sciences du bois et de la forêt, Université Laval, Québec, Qc, G1V 0A6, Canada.|Institut de biologie intégrative et des systèmes, Université Laval, Québec, Qc, G1V 0A6, Canada.|Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3RB, UK.
authors.forename: Geneviève J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Parent
authors.affiliation: Centre d'étude de la forêt, Département des sciences du bois et de la forêt, Université Laval, Québec, Qc, G1V 0A6, Canada.|Institut de biologie intégrative et des systèmes, Université Laval, Québec, Qc, G1V 0A6, Canada.
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Giguère
authors.affiliation: Centre d'étude de la forêt, Département des sciences du bois et de la forêt, Université Laval, Québec, Qc, G1V 0A6, Canada.|Institut de biologie intégrative et des systèmes, Université Laval, Québec, Qc, G1V 0A6, Canada.
authors.forename: Gaby
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Germanos
authors.affiliation: Centre d'étude de la forêt, Département des sciences du bois et de la forêt, Université Laval, Québec, Qc, G1V 0A6, Canada.|Institut de biologie intégrative et des systèmes, Université Laval, Québec, Qc, G1V 0A6, Canada.
authors.forename: Mebarek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lamara
authors.affiliation: Centre d'étude de la forêt, Département des sciences du bois et de la forêt, Université Laval, Québec, Qc, G1V 0A6, Canada.
authors.forename: Éric
authors.initials: É
authors.lastname: Bauce
authors.affiliation: Centre d'étude de la forêt, Département des sciences du bois et de la forêt, Université Laval, Québec, Qc, G1V 0A6, Canada.|Institut de biologie intégrative et des systèmes, Université Laval, Québec, Qc, G1V 0A6, Canada.|Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3RB, UK.
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: MacKay
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D060434:Herbivory / Q000502:physiology*; D007313:Insecta / Q000502:physiology*; D016014:Linear Models; D028201:Pinaceae / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000469:parasitology*; D011157:Population Dynamics; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D014197:Trees / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000469:parasitology*