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).

TRIA-Net: 10 years of collaborative research on turning risk into action for the mountain pine beetle epidemic

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (12) ◽  
pp. iii-v ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick M.A. James ◽  
Dezene P.W. Huber
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Forest Insect ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Pine Beetle ◽  
Blue Stain Fungi ◽  
Blue Stain

Forest insects are showing increasing intensity of outbreaks and expanded ranges, and this has become a major challenge for forest managers. An understanding of these systems often depends upon detailed examination of complex interactions involving multiple organisms. In 2013, a team of researchers formed TRIA-Net, an NSERC support Strategic Network, with the explicit goal of exploring such interactions in the mountain pine beetle (MPB; Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, 1902) – pine (Pinus sp.) – blue stain fungi (Ophiostomatales) system. Contributions of this network include novel genetic and genomic resources and insights, as well as exploration of how landscape structure affects MPB movements. This review highlights the unique contributions of TRIA-Net to our understanding of the MPB outbreak system. We also highlight how the insights we generated can be used to inform management strategies — including assessing stand susceptibility, predicting spread, and developing better monitoring approaches — and how the approach taken by the TRIA project can be used as a model for tackling other challenging forest insect outbreaks.

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.

Assessing forest management strategies under a mountain pine beetle attack in Alberta: exploring the impacts

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 597-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Hélène Mathey ◽  
Harry Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Timber Supply ◽  
Growing Stock ◽  
Management Objectives ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Recourse Approach ◽  
Pine Beetle

We explore how forest resource managers can respond to a potential outbreak of mountain pine beetle ( Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, 1902) by assessing how well different forest management strategies achieve various management objectives over time. Strategies include targeting at-risk stands as well as increasing harvest levels. Outcomes are evaluated on the basis of volume flows, net revenues, and the age class structure of the ending inventory. We use a spatially and temporally explicit model to simulate forest management outcomes and consider two different scenarios, one in which the attack occurs early and one where it is delayed. The model utilizes a planning with recourse approach in which the firm can reevaluate its harvesting schedule following the attack. We use company data from west-central Alberta for a 40-year planning exercise. The timing of the attack resulted in small differences in timber supply. However, most strategies performed better financially under an early attack, which limits the harvest of marginal stands. Increasing harvest levels performed better in economic terms but resulted in a very young growing stock with little old forest. The success of any strategy is linked to the timing of the attack and how it affects the growing stock, subsequently impacting timber and revenue flows.

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.

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