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Summary: COMMUNITY ECOLOGY
Richard W. Hofstetter Æ James T. Cronin
Kier D. Klepzig Æ John C. Moser Æ Matthew P. Ayres
Antagonisms, mutualisms and commensalisms affect outbreak dynamics
of the southern pine beetle
Received: 6 May 2005 / Accepted: 4 November 2005 / Published online: 2 December 2005
Ó Springer-Verlag 2005
Abstract Feedback from community interactions
involving mutualisms are a rarely explored mechanism
for generating complex population dynamics. We
examined the effects of two linked mutualisms on the
population dynamics of a beetle that exhibits outbreak
dynamics. One mutualism involves an obligate associa-
tion between the bark beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis and
two mycangial fungi. The second mutualism involves
Tarsonemus mites that are phoretic on D. frontalis
(``commensal''), and a blue-staining fungus, Ophiostoma
minus. The presence of O. minus reduces beetle larval
survival (``antagonistic'') by outcompeting beetle-mutu-
alistic fungi within trees yet supports mite populations
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