Some risks and causes of mortality in mountain pine beetle populations: A long-term analysis

1981 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter E. Cole
Keyword(s):  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Pine Beetle ◽  
Causes Of Mortality ◽  
Term Analysis

scholarly journals The Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic in the Black Hills, South Dakota: The Consequences of Long Term Fire Policy, Climate Change and the Use of Remote Sensing to Enhance Mitigation

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Mullen ◽  
Fei Yuan ◽  
Martin Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Ponderosa Pine ◽  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Black Hills ◽  
Fire Policy ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Pine Beetle ◽  
Ponderosa Pine Forest

The recent and intense outbreak (first decade of 2000s) of the mountain pine beetle in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming, which impacted over 33% of the 1.2 million acre (486,000 ha) Black Hills National Forest, illustrates what can occur when forest management practices intersect with natural climatic oscillations and climate change to create the “perfect storm” in a region where the physical environment sets the stage for a plethora of economic activities ranging from extractive industries to tourism. This study evaluates the potential of WorldView-2 satellite imagery for green-attacked tree detection in the ponderosa pine forest of the Black Hills, USA. It also discusses the consequences of long term fire policy and climate change, and the use of remote sensing technology to enhance mitigation. It was found that the near-infrared one (band 7) of WorldView-2 imagery had the highest influence on the green-attack classification. The Random Forest classification produced the best results when transferred to the independent dataset, whereas the Logistic Regression models consistently yielded the highest accuracies when cross-validated with the training data. Lessons learned include: (1) utilizing recent advances in remote sensing technologies, most notably the use of WorldView-2 data, to assist in more effectively implementing mitigation measures during an epidemic, and (2) implementing pre-emptive thinning strategies; both of which can be applied elsewhere in the American West to more effectively blunt or preclude the consequences of a mountain pine beetle outbreak on an existing ponderosa pine forest. 

scholarly journals How does water yield respond to mountain pine beetle infestation in a semiarid forest?

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 4681-4699
Author(s):  
Jianning Ren ◽  
Jennifer C. Adam ◽  
Jeffrey A. Hicke ◽  
Erin J. Hanan ◽  
Christina L. Tague ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Hydrologic Model ◽  
Water Yield ◽  
Driving Mechanisms ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Pine Beetle ◽  
Interannual Climate Variability ◽  
Hydrologic Responses

Abstract. Mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreaks in the western United States result in widespread tree mortality, transforming forest structure within watersheds. While there is evidence that these changes can alter the timing and quantity of streamflow, there is substantial variation in both the magnitude and direction of hydrologic responses, and the climatic and environmental mechanisms driving this variation are not well understood. Herein, we coupled an eco-hydrologic model (RHESSys) with a beetle effects model and applied it to a semiarid watershed, Trail Creek, in the Bigwood River basin in central Idaho, USA, to examine how varying degrees of beetle-caused tree mortality influence water yield. Simulation results show that water yield during the first 15 years after beetle outbreak is controlled by interactions between interannual climate variability, the extent of vegetation mortality, and long-term aridity. During wet years, water yield after a beetle outbreak increased with greater tree mortality; this was driven by mortality-caused decreases in evapotranspiration. During dry years, water yield decreased at low-to-medium mortality but increased at high mortality. The mortality threshold for the direction of change was location specific. The change in water yield also varied spatially along aridity gradients during dry years. In wetter areas of the Trail Creek basin, post-outbreak water yield decreased at low mortality (driven by an increase in ground evaporation) and increased when vegetation mortality was greater than 40 % (driven by a decrease in canopy evaporation and transpiration). In contrast, in more water-limited areas, water yield typically decreased after beetle outbreaks, regardless of mortality level (although the driving mechanisms varied). Our findings highlight the complexity and variability of hydrologic responses and suggest that long-term (i.e., multi-decadal mean) aridity can be a useful indicator for the direction of water yield changes after a disturbance.

The contribution of genetics and genomics to understanding the ecology of the mountain pine beetle system

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 721-730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine I. Cullingham ◽  
Jasmine K. Janes ◽  
Richard C. Hamelin ◽  
Patrick M.A. James ◽  
Brent W. Murray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Dutch Elm Disease ◽  
Native Forest ◽  
Forest Insect ◽  
Genetic Studies ◽  
Long Term Study ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Pine Beetle

Environmental change is altering forest insect dynamics worldwide. As these systems change, they pose significant ecological, social, and economic risk through, for example, the loss of valuable habitat, green space, and timber. Our understanding of such systems is often limited by the complexity of multiple interacting taxa. As a consequence, studies assessing the ecology, physiology, and genomics of each key organism in such systems are increasingly important for developing appropriate management strategies. Here we summarize the genetic and genomic contributions made by the TRIA project — a long-term study of the mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) system encompassing beetle, fungi, and pine. Contributions include genetic and genomic resources for species identification, sex determination, detection of selection, functional genetic analysis, mating system confirmation, hybrid stability tests, and integrated genetic studies of multiple taxa. These resources and subsequent findings have accelerated our understanding of the mountain pine beetle system, facilitating improved management strategies (e.g., enhancements to stand susceptibility indices and predictive models) and highlighting mechanisms for promoting resilient forests. Further, work from the TRIA project serves as a model for the increasing number and severity of invasive and native forest insect outbreaks globally (e.g., Dutch elm disease and thousand cankers disease).

scholarly journals How does water yield respond to mountain pine beetle infestation in a semiarid forest?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianning Ren ◽  
Jennifer Adam ◽  
Jeffrey A. Hicke ◽  
Erin Hanan ◽  
Naomi Tague ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Hydrologic Model ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Water Yield ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Pine Beetle ◽  
Interannual Climate Variability ◽  
Basin Water

Abstract. Mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreaks in western United States result in widespread tree mortality, transforming forest structure within watersheds. While there is evidence that these changes can alter the timing and quantity of streamflow, there is substantial variation in both the magnitude and direction of responses and the climatic and environmental mechanisms driving this variation are not well understood. Herein, we coupled an eco-hydrologic model (RHESSys) with a beetle effects model and applied it to a semiarid watershed, Trail Creek, in the Bigwood River basin in central Idaho to evaluate how varying degrees of beetle-caused tree mortality influence water yield. Simulation results show that water yield during the first 15 years after beetle outbreak is controlled by interactions among interannual climate variability, the extent of vegetation mortality, and long-term aridity. During wet years, water yield after beetle outbreak increases with greater tree mortality. During dry years, water yield decreases at low to medium mortality but increases at high mortality. The mortality threshold for the direction of change is location-specific. The change in water yield also varies spatially along aridity gradients during dry years. In relatively wetter areas of the Trail Creek basin, water yield switches from a decrease to an increase when vegetation mortality is greater than 40 percent. In more water-limited areas on the other hand, water yield typically decreases after beetle outbreaks, regardless of mortality level. Results suggest that long-term aridity can be a useful indicator for the direction of water yield changes after disturbance.

scholarly journals Cold Tolerance of Mountain Pine Beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Pupae

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
K P Bleiker ◽  
G D Smith
Keyword(s):  
Cold Tolerance ◽  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Lethal Temperature ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Pine Beetle ◽  
Different Temperatures ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Expected Mortality

Abstract Determining the cold tolerance of mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is critical for assessing its long-term persistence and eruptive potential in its new habitat, as well as the risk of continued range expansion across Canada’s boreal forest. We used supercooling points (SCPs) and mortality assessments with exposure to different temperatures to determine the cold tolerance of pupae. Mountain pine beetle pupae cold tolerance did not increase with chilling and there was little change in the lethal temperature regardless of treatment or sample time. SCPs were reflective of expected mortality due to freezing: the lethal temperature for 50% mortality was –19.3°C and the mean SCP was –18.7°C. However, significant mortality occurred over time at much warmer temperatures (0 and –9°C), indicating that this life stage suffers significant prefreeze mortality. On the basis of our results, it is unlikely that pupae would be able to successfully overwinter in most regions in Canada. This study is part of a larger project aimed at producing a comprehensive assessment of the cold tolerance of all life stages of the mountain pine beetle to feed population models, climatic suitability indices, and spread assessments.

scholarly journals Modelling long-term impacts of mountain pine beetle outbreaks on merchantable biomass, ecosystem carbon, albedo, and radiative forcing

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 5277-5295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Sébastien Landry ◽  
Lael Parrott ◽  
David T. Price ◽  
Navin Ramankutty ◽  
H. Damon Matthews
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Surface Albedo ◽  
Moisture Stress ◽  
Carbon Surface ◽  
Ecosystem Carbon ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Pine Beetle

Abstract. The ongoing major outbreak of mountain pine beetle (MPB) in forests of western North America has led to considerable research efforts. However, many questions remain unaddressed regarding its long-term impacts, especially when accounting for the range of possible responses from the non-target vegetation (i.e., deciduous trees and lower-canopy shrubs and grasses). We used the Integrated BIosphere Simulator (IBIS) process-based ecosystem model along with the recently incorporated Marauding Insect Module (MIM) to quantify, over 240 years, the impacts of various MPB outbreak regimes on lodgepole pine merchantable biomass, ecosystem carbon, surface albedo, and the net radiative forcing on global climate caused by the changes in ecosystem carbon and albedo. We performed simulations for three locations in British Columbia, Canada, with different climatic conditions, and four scenarios of various coexisting vegetation types with variable growth release responses. The impacts of MPB outbreaks on merchantable biomass (decrease) and surface albedo (increase) were similar across the 12 combinations of locations and vegetation coexistence scenarios. The impacts on ecosystem carbon and radiative forcing, however, varied substantially in magnitude and sign, depending upon the presence and response of the non-target vegetation, particularly for the two locations not subjected to growing-season soil moisture stress; this variability represents the main finding from our study. Despite major uncertainty in the value of the resulting radiative forcing, a simple analysis also suggested that the MPB outbreak in British Columbia will have a smaller impact on global temperature over the coming decades and centuries than a single month of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production. Moreover, we found that (1) outbreak severity (i.e., per-event mortality) had a stronger effect than outbreak return interval on the variables studied, (2) MPB-induced changes in carbon dynamics had a stronger effect than concurrent changes in albedo on net radiative forcing, and (3) the physical presence of MPB-killed dead standing trees was potentially beneficial to tree regrowth. Given that the variability of pre-outbreak vegetation characteristics can lead to very different regeneration pathways, the four vegetation coexistence scenarios we simulated probably only sampled the range of possible responses.

scholarly journals Modelling long-term impacts of mountain pine beetle outbreaks on merchantable biomass, ecosystem carbon, albedo, and radiative forcing

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Sébastien Landry ◽  
Lael Parrott ◽  
David T. Price ◽  
Navin Ramankutty ◽  
H. Damon Matthews
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Surface Albedo ◽  
Moisture Stress ◽  
Carbon Surface ◽  
Ecosystem Carbon ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Pine Beetle

Abstract. The ongoing major outbreak of mountain pine beetle (MPB) in forests of western North America has led to considerable research efforts. Yet many questions remain unaddressed regarding its long-term impacts, especially when accounting for the range of possible responses from the non-target vegetation (i.e., deciduous trees and lower-canopy shrubs and grasses). We used the Integrated BIosphere Simulator (IBIS) process-based ecosystem model along with the recently incorporated Marauding Insect Module (MIM) to quantify, over 240 years, the impacts of various MPB outbreak regimes on lodgepole pine merchantable biomass, ecosystem carbon, surface albedo, and the net radiative forcing on global climate caused by the changes in ecosystem carbon and albedo. We performed simulations for three locations in British Columbia, Canada, having different climatic conditions, and four scenarios of various coexisting vegetation types with variable growth release responses. The impacts of MPB outbreaks on merchantable biomass (decrease) and surface albedo (increase) were similar across the 12 combinations of locations and vegetation coexistence scenarios. The main finding from our study was that the impacts on ecosystem carbon and radiative forcing, on the contrary, varied substantially in magnitude and sign depending upon the presence and response of the non-target vegetation, particularly for the two locations not subjected to growing-season soil moisture stress. Despite major uncertainty in the value of the resulting radiative forcing, a simple analysis also suggested a smaller impact on global temperature from the MPB outbreak in British Columbia compared to one month of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production. Moreover, we found that: (1) outbreak severity (i.e., per-event mortality) had a stronger effect than outbreak return interval on the variables studied, (2) MPB-induced changes in carbon dynamics had a stronger effect than concurrent changes in albedo on net radiative forcing, and (3) the physical presence of MPB-killed dead standing trees was potentially beneficial to tree regrowth.

Long-term efficacy of diameter-limit cutting to reduce mountain pine beetle-caused tree mortality in a lodgepole pine forest

2015 ◽  
Vol 91 (04) ◽  
pp. 444-456
Author(s):  
J.C. Vandygriff ◽  
E.M. Hansen ◽  
B.J. Bentz ◽  
K.K. Allen ◽  
G.D. Amman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Timber Harvest ◽  
Susceptible Host ◽  
Term Efficacy ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Pine Beetle ◽  
Lodgepole Pines

Mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, is the most significant mortality agent in pine forests of western North America. Silvicultural treatments that reduce the number of susceptible host trees, alter age and size class distributions, and diversify species composition are considered viable, long-term options for reducing stand susceptibility to mountain pine beetle-caused tree mortality. Short-term efficacy of thinning treatments has been evaluated, but long-term efficacy has not. We evaluated mountain pine beetle-caused lodgepole pine mortality in 2008, ∼28 years after diameterlimit cutting from above that removed the largest diameter lodgepole pines in a Wyoming, USA forest. Following extensive recent mountain pine beetle activity, the partially-cut stands had significantly less mountain pine beetle-caused tree mortality compared to untreated reference stands. These results are similar to observations five years post-treatment, albeit using different reference stands because the original controls were lost to timber harvest. The original management objective was reduced mountain pine beetle-caused tree mortality, and this objective was achieved, lasting for up to 28 years. Despite the reduced mortality among partially-cut stands, however, untreated and treated stands had similar densities of residual live mature lodgepole pine and those in untreated stands had larger average diameters.

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