Living with bark beetles: impacts, outlook and management options

Hlásny, Tomáš; Krokene, Paal; Liebhold, Andrew M.; Montagné-Huck, Claire; Müller, Jörg; Qin, Hua; Raffa, Kenneth F.; Schelhaas, Mart-Jan; Seidl, Rupert; Svoboda, Miroslav; Viiri, Heli

doi:10.36333/fs08

Cited by 136 publications

(138 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…For example, beech may also be taking advantage of the decline in Norway spruce growth in mixed mountain forests due to damage by bark beetle and drought (Hilmers et al 2019). Climate change-driven disturbances threaten spruce over virtually its entire range in Europe, and some recent disturbances have, for instance, already reached native subalpine spruce forests close to the timber line in the Alps (Hlásny et al 2019). Furthermore, evergreen conifers filter out much more eutrophic deposition than broadleaved trees, as they have a higher foliage area that is present for the whole year.…”

Section: Faster Growth Of Beech In Mixed Stands Versus Mono-specific mentioning

confidence: 99%

European beech stem diameter grows better in mixed than in mono-specific stands at the edge of its distribution in mountain forests

et al. 2020

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Recent studies show that several tree species are spreading to higher latitudes and elevations due to climate change. European beech, presently dominating from the colline to the subalpine vegetation belt, is already present in upper montane subalpine forests and has a high potential to further advance to higher elevations in European mountain forests, where the temperature is predicted to further increase in the near future. Although essential for adaptive silviculture, it remains unknown whether the upward shift of beech could be assisted when it is mixed with Norway spruce or silver fir compared with mono-specific stands, as the species interactions under such conditions are hardly known. In this study, we posed the general hypotheses that the growth depending on age of European beech in mountain forests was similar in mono-specific and mixed-species stands and remained stable over time and space in the last two centuries. The scrutiny of these hypotheses was based on increment coring of 1240 dominant beech trees in 45 plots in mono-specific stands of beech and in 46 mixed mountain forests. We found that (i) on average, mean tree diameter increased linearly with age. The age trend was linear in both forest types, but the slope of the age–growth relationship was higher in mono-specific than in mixed mountain forests. (ii) Beech growth in mono-specific stands was stronger reduced with increasing elevation than that in mixed-species stands. (iii) Beech growth in mono-specific stands was on average higher than beech growth in mixed stands. However, at elevations > 1200 m, growth of beech in mixed stands was higher than that in mono-specific stands. Differences in the growth patterns among elevation zones are less pronounced now than in the past, in both mono-specific and mixed stands. As the higher and longer persisting growth rates extend the flexibility of suitable ages or size for tree harvest and removal, the longer-lasting growth may be of special relevance for multi-aged silviculture concepts. On top of their function for structure and habitat improvement, the remaining old trees may grow more in mass and value than assumed so far.

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Section: Faster Growth Of Beech In Mixed Stands Versus Mono-specific mentioning

confidence: 99%

European beech stem diameter grows better in mixed than in mono-specific stands at the edge of its distribution in mountain forests

et al. 2020

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“…Increased outbreaks in conifer forests have been documented in Europe, Canada, and the United States causing concern for forest aesthetics and economics as well as altered ecosystem and watershed function (Natural Resources Canada, 2013;U.S. Forest Service, 2019;Hlásny et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparison of lodgepole and spruce needle chemistry impacts on terrestrial biogeochemical processes during isolated decomposition

Laura

Mikkelson

Hao

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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This study investigates the isolated decomposition of spruce and lodgepole conifer needles to enhance our understanding of how needle litter impacts near-surface terrestrial biogeochemical processes. Harvested needles were exported to a subalpine meadow to enable a discrete analysis of the decomposition processes over 2 years. Initial chemistry revealed the lodgepole needles to be less recalcitrant with a lower carbon to nitrogen (C:N) ratio. Total C and N fundamentally shifted within needle species over time with decreased C:N ratios for spruce and increased ratios for lodgepole. Differences in chemistry correlated with CO2 production and soil microbial communities. The most pronounced trends were associated with lodgepole needles in comparison to the spruce and needle-free controls. Increased organic carbon and nitrogen concentrations associated with needle presence in soil extractions further corroborate the results with clear biogeochemical signatures in association with needle chemistry. Interestingly, no clear differentiation was observed as a function of bark beetle impacted spruce needles vs those derived from healthy spruce trees despite initial differences in needle chemistry. These results reveal that the inherent chemistry associated with tree species has a greater impact on soil biogeochemical signatures during isolated needle decomposition. By extension, biogeochemical shifts associated with bark beetle infestation are likely driven more by changes such as the cessation of rhizospheric processes than by needle litter decomposition.

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“…The beetles also increase the virulence of their attacks by introducing necrotrophic blue-stain fungi, such as Endoconidiophora polonica, into the tree (Krokene & Solheim, 1998). The beetles oviposit in characteristic egg galleries in the inner bark of successfully colonized trees, and the developing larvae make feeding tunnels away from the egg galleries (Hlásny et al, 2019). The terpenoid resin in the bark and sapwood is toxic to the beetles and is a key component in the constitutive and inducible defenses in conifers (Celedon & Bohlmann, 2019).…”

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confidence: 99%

Priming of inducible defenses protects Norway spruce against tree‐killing bark beetles

Magerøy

Christiansen

Långström

et al. 2019

Plant Cell & Environment

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Plants can form an immunological memory known as defense priming, whereby exposure to a priming stimulus enables quicker or stronger response to subsequent attack by pests and pathogens. Such priming of inducible defenses provides increased protection and reduces allocation costs of defense. Defense priming has been widely studied for short‐lived model plants such as Arabidopsis, but little is known about this phenomenon in long‐lived plants like spruce. We compared the effects of pretreatment with sublethal fungal inoculations or application of the phytohormone methyl jasmonate (MeJA) on the resistance of 48‐year‐old Norway spruce (Picea abies) trees to mass attack by a tree‐killing bark beetle beginning 35 days later. Bark beetles heavily infested and killed untreated trees but largely avoided fungus‐inoculated trees and MeJA‐treated trees. Quantification of defensive terpenes at the time of bark beetle attack showed fungal inoculation induced 91‐fold higher terpene concentrations compared with untreated trees, whereas application of MeJA did not significantly increase terpenes. These results indicate that resistance in fungus‐inoculated trees is a result of direct induction of defenses, whereas resistance in MeJA‐treated trees is due to defense priming. This work extends our knowledge of defense priming from model plants to an ecologically important tree species.

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Living with bark beetles: impacts, outlook and management options

Cited by 136 publications

References 61 publications

European beech stem diameter grows better in mixed than in mono-specific stands at the edge of its distribution in mountain forests

European beech stem diameter grows better in mixed than in mono-specific stands at the edge of its distribution in mountain forests

A comparison of lodgepole and spruce needle chemistry impacts on terrestrial biogeochemical processes during isolated decomposition

Priming of inducible defenses protects Norway spruce against tree‐killing bark beetles

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