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Published in Brenda Groskinsky, Climate Actions, 2022
Michael Durglo, Richard G. Everett, Tony Incashola, Maureen I. McCarthy, ShiNaasha H. Pete, Joshua M. Rosenau, Séliš-Ql̓ispé, Thompson Smith, Shirley Trahan, Anne A. Carlson
Mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) is a species of bark beetle native to western North America that may have also contributed to the widespread destruction of whitebark pine stands. Beetles lay their eggs and introduce pathogenic fungi into host trees, infecting many species of pine (Keane et al. 2012). This combination of larval development and fungal colonization is characteristically adequate to kill old or unhealthy trees. However, because of increased climate warming, the beetles have expanded their attacks to include younger, healthier trees (Kichas et al. 2020). Since the 1980s, the climate at high elevations has increased temperature enough for the beetles to reproduce within whitebark pine forest communities, often completing their life cycle within one year and enabling their populations to grow exponentially. Entire forest landscapes in the northern Rocky Mountains have become expanses of dead gray whitebark skeletons (Six and Bracewell 2015). In 2007, for example, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that beetles had killed whitebark pines across 500,000 acres (200,000 ha) in the west; while in 2009, beetles were estimated to have killed trees on 800,000 acres (320,000 ha), the most since record-keeping began (Tomback 2018).
Effects on Ecosystems
Published in Julie Kerr, Introduction to Energy and Climate, 2017
Another major concern for boreal forests in a warmer climate is insect infestations. Insects commonly found in temperate forests, such as mountain pine beetle, will migrate north along with the forests and continue to infest and infect as they move northward, devastating industries such as logging and tourism.
Improving planning by integrating spatial data into decision support systems
Published in Journal of Decision Systems, 2019
Tim Schröder, Jutta Geldermann
The dataset of potential cutblocks is now ready for use in any decision model requiring cutblocks as input–although further modifications may be required in the decision model itself. For a lignocellulose biorefinery, not all potential cutblocks actually deliver biomass within the 20-year lifespan of the plant. Since about 86,000 hectares of forest are harvested annually in British Columbia (Province of British Columbia, 2011), one might randomly pick cutblocks from the total set of 459,490 until an area of 1,720,000 hectares (86,000 hectares/year x 20 years) is reached. If one considers the increased wood availability caused by a current mountain pine beetle infestation (Lloyd, Smith, & Berndes, 2014), the area of harvested forest might even double to 3,440,000 hectares in the upcoming years (Cambero, Sowlati, Marinescu, & Röser, 2015). An exemplary selection of cutblocks representing 3,440,000 hectares is depicted in Figure 11.
Logger perceptions of salvage harvesting in Minnesota, USA
Published in International Journal of Forest Engineering, 2018
Matthew B. Russell, Charles R. Blinn
Disturbances have increased in their occurrence and severity across many of the earth’s forested ecosystems (Seidl et al. 2011, 2017). Changes to the global climate are increasing the vulnerability of forest ecosystems to a number of disturbances (Melillo et al. 2014). Globally, trends in wildfire regimes indicate an abundance of fire-prone forest environments (Pechony and Shindell 2010). In western North America, damage from the mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) has resulted in conifer mortality of 22 million hectares (Corbett et al. 2016). In the US Lake States (states of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin), disturbances such as windstorms, insects, and fire are three major agents that shape the structure and composition of its forests (Frelich 2002) and often can occur within several years of one another (Bradford et al. 2012). Salvage harvesting, defined as the removal of dead, damaged, or dying trees because of injurious agents other than competition to recover economic value that would otherwise be lost (Helms 1998), is a tool to reduce fuel load and fire risk and recover economic losses associated with these forest disturbances (Lindenmayer et al. 2008).
Climate change in the human environment: Indicators and impacts from the Fourth National Climate Assessment
Published in Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 2021
Laura E. Stevens, Thomas K. Maycock, Brooke C. Stewart
Insect and disease outbreaks can interact with other forest disturbances, such as wildfire, worsening the overall impact on ecosystem services. For example, mountain pine beetle outbreaks alter forest fuels, affecting the frequency and intensity of wildfires. Conversely, trees injured by fire can promote bark beetle attacks, consequently increasing beetle populations (Jenkins et al. 2014).