As the development of the eight‐toothed spruce bark beetle Ips typographus is temperature‐dependent, climate change may encourage development of its additional generations per year and facilitate mass outbreaks further north than previously known.
The aim of the study was to analyse historical changes in effective temperature sums (ETSs) and early season swarming weather for I. typographus in different forest zones of European Russia between 1960 and 2016. The difference in ETSs was analysed with linear regression using daily temperature data from the 30 meteorological stations. Historical data regarding the location of I. typographus outbreaks were examined and changes in their distribution during the entire study period were analysed.
There was a substantial increase in ETSs, especially in the latter half of the study period. Increased ETSs coincided with more favourable conditions for swarming of I. typographus. Areas with favourable ETSs for the complete development of bivoltine populations of I. typographus (>1500 DD) shifted northwards on average 450 km during the entire study period.
The northward shift of ETSs may enhance the transition from univoltine to bivoltine life cycles of I. typographus in the south and middle taiga and from bivoltine to trivoltine life cycles in conifer‐broadleaf forests.
Summary
An essential stage in woody plant ontogeny (heartwood (HW) formation) determines tree resistance to weather conditions, wood quality (moisture, colour, resistance to biodegradation), and regulates the proportion of functionally active sapwood (SW) in the total trunk biomass. In this study, the patterns of HW formation depending on tree age and cambial age within the same tree were studied in the North-West of Russia in Scots pine in a lingonberry pine forest. It is shown that HW either repeats the trunk profile or shows a maximum proportion on average at the height of 1.5 m. Models using the square root transformation and logarithm transformation have been proposed to predict the number of annual rings in HW depending on the cambial age. Multiple regression is proposed to predict the radial width in HW. Validation of the developed models on random trees gave a good result. HW formation begins at the age of 17–18 years and continues at the rate of 0.3 rings per year for 20–30-year-old trees, 0.4–0.5 rings per year for 70–80-year-old trees, and about 0.7 rings per year for 180-year-old trees. The lifespan of xylem parenchyma cells ranged from 10–15 years in 20-year-old trees to 70 years in 180-year-old trees. At the age of the previous felling (70–80 years) the HW area in the trunk biomass is about 20%, and in 180-year-old pine forests, it increases to 50%. These data can be used to assess the role of old-growth forests in carbon sequestration.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.