Mating and reproductive characteristics of the pathogenic nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus

Abstract

Pine wood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus), one of the most destructive invasive species, has caused extremely serious economic, ecological and social losses in many countries throughout the world. Since the high reproductive rate of B. xylophilus PWN is the main cause of rapid death of its pine hosts (Pinus spp.), understanding the reproductive and population biology and the ecology of this nmatode are of great importance. This study mainly focused on analyzing the mating process and population structure under different combinations of sex ratios for mating. Reproductive efficiency of B. xylophilus peaked when the sex ratio (female to male) was 3.4:1. Phases of the mating process for the different sex-ratio combinations indicated that B. xylophilus had evolved alternative reproductive strategies to cope with complex copulating conditions to obtain a suitable population structure for further propagation. This research provides fundamental information on the mechanism that is responsible for the rapid population growth of B. xylophilus.

Keywords

Reproductive strategy / Reproductive efficiency / Sex ratio / Population structure / Pine wood nematode

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