Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Riggins, John J.

Committee Member

Londo, Andrew J.

Committee Member

Allison, Jeremy D.

Committee Member

Caprio, Michael

Committee Member

Sabanadzovic, Sead

Date of Degree

12-9-2011

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Agriculture and Life Sciences

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology

Abstract

This study investigates the pheromone preference of a bark beetle predator Thanasimus dubius between latent and intermediate phases of southern pine beetle. Two trap treatments were set up in each SPB phase. Standard Lindgren funnel traps were baited with either SPB lures or Ips lures. The number of T. dubius caught in each trap was recorded and data was analyzed using both the Mann Whitney U test and a two-way factorial ANOVA. Thanasimus dubius showed no variation in SPB pheromone preference but did show a slight increase in preference for Ips pheromones in intermediate phase areas. A protocol was developed to identify prey DNA within gut contents of T. dubius to understand prey preference in relation to pheromone preference. Primers were developed to amplify CO1 gene sequences from five different bark beetles. All primers were specific to their own DNA and able to detect at least 0.2 picograms of DNA.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/17023

Comments

checkered clerid beetle||primers||pcr||entomology||southern pine beetle

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