PhD position Chemical ecology of cone feeding insects

The aim of the proposed PhD project is to increase the knowledge about the reproductive biology and chemical ecology of species within a spruce seed-feeding guild of insects. Wood production has a large socioeconomic role in Sweden and will also be important for the sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere in the future. Seed orchards serve an important role for the production of high-quality seeds and thus in the generation of new forests. However, insects are chronic pests and cause great losses in seed production. Therefore, more knowledge is needed about the most important insect species in order to be able to design reliable and sustainable monitoring and control strategies. Within the project different aspects of chemical ecology of the target species will be studied, e.g. the role of flower odours for orientation and selection of oviposition sites, pheromone communication for mate location, and the role of odours for attracting natural enemies. Also studies on dispersal, competition and climate-induced modifications of life history strategies might be included.