Relationship between Pine Wilt Disease Outbreaks and Climatic Variables in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region

Abstract

Outbreaks of pine wilt disease (PWD, caused by the pinewood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus), have caused mass mortality of the genus Pinus in Eurasia. Climate change may greatly influence the distribution and population dynamics of longhorn beetles of the genus Monochamus (the main vector of B. xylophilus), the survival and development of B. xylophilus, and the resistance of pines. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of climatic variables associated with extensive PWD outbreaks in Masson pine (Pinus massoniana Lamb.) forest across the eastern part of the Three Gorges Reservoir region. Since its discovery in 2006, the most serious PWD outbreak occurred from 2014 to 2018; the most striking characteristic of this outbreak is the consistent increase in Masson pine mortality and extent of the affected areas. Moreover, 28 out of 46 PWD biological relevant climatic variables were selected and used for redundancy analysis. The ordination biplots reflect the complicated quantitative relationship between the PWD epidemic variables and the biologically relevant climatic variables of temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, and wind speed. The results will be useful for understanding the role climatic variables play in PWD outbreaks, for predicting the spread and pattern of PWD outbreaks, and for the advance preparation of management strategies with the purpose of preventing future PWD outbreaks.