Conifer-Killing Beetles Use Smell Of Beneficial Fungus To Select Host Trees

Eurasian spruce bark beetles (Ips typographus) burrow into the bark of Norway spruce (Picea abies) trees where they mate and lay their eggs. Major outbreaks in Europe have decimated millions of hectares of conifer forests.

The beetles preferentially attack trees that are already infected with symbiotic fungi (such...