Northern range limit mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreak dynamics and climate interactions in mixed sub-boreal pine forests of British Columbia.

Disturbance history and its influence on drought tolerance of interior Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Beisn.) Franco) in the Cariboo-Chilcotin region of British Columbia, Canada

“…In three years of fieldwork for this dissertation only a handful of surviving pine greater than 20cm diameter were found, though standing and fallen snags killed in the 2000-2010 outbreak were abundant in many stands (Figure 1.6). This outbreak is discussed thoroughly elsewhere (Shore et al, 2006;de la Giroday et al, 2012;Hrinkevich, 2012), but bears mentioning here as many Douglas-fir stands in the study area included a component of lodgepole pine. Previous mountain pine beetle outbreaks have influenced the growth of Douglas-fir in the study area, with more than half of Douglas-fir sampled in mixed stands recording growth release following the previous outbreak in the 1970s (Hawkes et al, 2004).…”

Spatiotemporal evolutionary dynamics and biological response of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in western Canada after range expansion

“…Bark beetles often act as the most impactful disturbance agent in those ecosystems, causing many hectares of damage every year (Logan et al, 1995;Raffa et al, 2008;Hrinkevich, 2012). Though these beetles are a natural part of the renewal process of conifer forests, coevolved with their host trees, human intervention by fire exclusion and selective harvest has led to the development of unnatural forest conditions.…”

“…MPB is a tree killing sub-cortical pine bark beetle, responsible for one of the most widespread and damaging insect outbreaks in recent history (Raffa et al, 2008;Six & Bracewell, 2015). Over 18.3 million hectares of pine forests were affected by MPB in the wake of this outbreak in British Columbia from 2000-2012(McKee et al, 2015. This native beetle is found in pine species in the southwestern USA to the Black Hills of South Dakota, most of British Columbia (BC), and recently expanded into Alberta.…”