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      • The Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic
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  • Home
  • About
    • About BANR
    • Background Information
      • The Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic
      • Making Fuels and Electricity from Wood
      • The Importance of Carbon-Negative Bioenergy
      • Managing Beetle-Kill and Fuels in Western Forests
      • What is Biochar?
    • Research Questions
      • Does the Public Support Beetle-Kill Bioenergy
      • Is Beetle-Kill Biofuel Good for the Climate?
      • How Does Salvage Harvest Change the Forest Landscape?
      • How Much Beetle-Kill is There, and Where?
      • How Might Bioenergy Affect How Beetle-Kill is Managed
    • Collaborators
      • BANR Team
      • Advisory Board
      • NASA DEVELOP
    • BANR Funding
  • Projects
    • Feedstock Supply
    • Feedstock Logistics & Processing
    • System Performance & Sustainability
    • Education
    • Extension & Outreach
    • Health & Safety
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    • BANR News
    • Events
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  • Extension & Resources
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  • Biochar & Bioenergy 2019

The Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic

The mountain pine beetle. Image from Wildfire Today

Since the turn of the century, forests across the western United States and Canada have been ravaged by bark beetles, particularly the mountain pine beetle (MPB).  While the MPB is native to western forests, the current outbreaks are unprecedented in extent and severity.  Western lodgepole pine and ponderosa pine forests are particularly vulnerable to beetles due to historic management trends, in which widespread timber harvests to support mines and railroads at the beginning of the twentieth century – and aggressive fire suppression since then – has led to homogeneous, overstocked stands of trees that are the ideal host size.  Beetle spread has likely been accelerated by warmer winters increasing beetle survivability, and drier summers weakening potential host trees.

MPB-affect landscape in Canada, showing green-phase (healthy and recently-infected trees), red-phase (needles dead and discolored), and grey phase (needles dropped, but snags remain standing) progression. Image from the University of British Columbia

MPB and other bark beetles infect host trees as part of their reproductive lifecycle.  They swarm trees, boring through the outer bark, and then carving lateral galleries through the water-conducting inner bark in which they lay their eggs.  Healthy trees combat beetles by exuding sap that physically pushes the invaders out, though this defense is overwhelmed if the tree is weak or the beetle too numerous.  While some trees seem better adapted to resist beetles than others, most trees will die rapidly from a combination of loss of water conductance (girdling) and infection from symbiotic blue-stain fungus introduced by the beetles, and mortality often reaches >80% in pure pine stands. These dead trees change from green- to red -to grey-colored as their needles gradually die and drop, though the dead trunks typically stay standing for 5-10 years until rot and wind knock them over.  Beetle-killed stands switch from carbon source to sink, likely subject to more sever wildfire (though not more frequent).

Colorado State Forest Service entomologist David Leatherman explains the mountain pine beelte lifecycle and current infestation. Part of the BANR Educationteam webinar series

Spread of mountain pine and spruce beetles in Colorado. Image from the Colorado State Forest Service

To date, bark beetle infestations have caused significant tree mortality over more than 60 million acres across the Rocky Mountains in the western US and Canada.  MPB infestations have slowed in many areas due to the beetles running out of suitable host trees to infect.  However, similar pests are reaching outbreak levels, such as the spruce beetle spreading across the higher-elevation spruce-fir forests in Colorado.  Bark beetle infestations are also accelerating in Sierra Mountain ponderosa pine forests in California due to recent extreme drought there.

Other Links & Resources:

  • National Geographic: The Bug That’s Eating the Woods
  • Our Future Forests: Beyond Bark Beetles video series
  • US Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Bark Beetle homepage
  • US Forest Service Aerial Detection surveys
  • Colorado State Forest Service Mountain Pine Beetle homepage
  • Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS): Colorado Forest Health Reports
  • Aspen Center for Environmental Studies: Forest Health Program

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  • Home
  • About
    ▼
    • About BANR
    • Background Information
      ▼
      • The Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic
      • Making Fuels and Electricity from Wood
      • The Importance of Carbon-Negative Bioenergy
      • Managing Beetle-Kill and Fuels in Western Forests
      • What is Biochar?
    • Research Questions
      ▼
      • Does the Public Support Beetle-Kill Bioenergy
      • Is Beetle-Kill Biofuel Good for the Climate?
      • How Does Salvage Harvest Change the Forest Landscape?
      • How Much Beetle-Kill is There, and Where?
      • How Might Bioenergy Affect How Beetle-Kill is Managed
    • Collaborators
      ▼
      • BANR Team
      • Advisory Board
      • NASA DEVELOP
    • BANR Funding
  • Projects
    ▼
    • Feedstock Supply
    • Feedstock Logistics & Processing
    • System Performance & Sustainability
    • Education
    • Extension & Outreach
    • Health & Safety
  • News & Events
    ▼
    • BANR News
    • Events
    • BANR in the Media
  • Extension & Resources
    ▼
    • Publications
    • Webinars & Videos
    • Maps & Spatial Data
    • Infosheets
    • Ask an Expert
    • Beetle Kill & Bioenergy Resources
    • Related Links
  • Education
    ▼
    • About Us
    • K-12 Resources
    • Undergraduate and Graduation Education
  • Connect
    ▼
    • E-Newsletter Sign-up
    • Social Media
    • Ask an Expert
  • Biochar & Bioenergy 2019