Pine weevil (Hylobius abietis L.) bark feeding reduces root carbohydrates without broad metabolic changes in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) seedlings

Research paper

Key message

Pine weevil feeding on bark reduced root carbohydrate concentrations in Scots pine seedlings, while no changes were detected in needle phenolics or non-volatile metabolomic profiles after seven days.

Keywords
Carbon allocation; Herbivory; Organ-specific response; Phenolic compounds; Provenance

Publication
Dvořáková, B., Holuša, J., Čepl, J. et al. Pine weevil (Hylobius abietis L.) bark feeding reduces root carbohydrates without broad metabolic changes in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) seedlings. Annals of Forest Science 83, 51 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13595-026-01369-z

Data availability
The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are available in the Zenodo repository (Dvořáková et al. 2026), https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21401870.

Handling editor
Maarten de Groot