Mountain Pine Beetle Develops an Unprecedented Summer Generation in Response to Climate Warming

Mitton, Jeffry B.; Ferrenberg, Scott

doi:10.1086/665007

Cited by 169 publications

(163 citation statements)

References 48 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

151

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is possible that lethal cool winter temperatures may not be the only limiting factor keeping the beetle outside of these areas. Leptographium longiclavatum has only recently been described from MPB populations in Colorado [39,45], where the beetle's incursions to unusually high elevations were observed during this and another study [75].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

Fungal Frequency and Mite Load Trends Interact with a Declining Mountain Pine Beetle Population

Mercado

Ortiz-Santana

Kay

2018

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:The mite and fungal biota associated with the mountain pine beetle (MPB) (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopk.) may not be stable throughout an irruptive event. In congeneric beetles, variations in the frequency of their associated organisms affect population trends and similar effects may occur in MPB. We studied fungi and mite trends in a declining irruptive MPB population as it attacked three different pine hosts in the Colorado Front Range. During the study, we found two new associates including one biologically relevant mite and one beneficial blue-stain fungus. Fungi hyperphoretic on mites were also documented. This included beneficial and potentially detrimental species to the MPB. The frequency of several organisms varied between some years or pine hosts but not within male or female beetles. A large increase of Trichouropoda sp. and T. ips mites trended inversely with the declining beetle population, while a decrease in the beneficial blue-stain fungi trended similarly to the declining beetle population. We discuss the interactions and potential effects of phoretic biota in relation to (1) the MPB associates' population trends, (2) the MPB incursions into cooler areas, and (3) the redundancy of blue-stain fungi carried by the MPB holobiont. These findings increase our knowledge of the mechanisms that influence MPB populations.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

Fungal Frequency and Mite Load Trends Interact with a Declining Mountain Pine Beetle Population

Mercado

Ortiz-Santana

Kay

2018

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…By girdling trees, we induced a disturbance that altered all three of these variables and found that a reduction in labile C limitation in the litter was the net result of these changes. Mass tree mortality events are currently affecting forests on a global scale and could increase in size and frequency with global warming (Mitton and Ferrenberg, 2012). Predicting the response of regional C cycling to such events requires consideration of temperature, moisture and labile C limitation of microbial respiration.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decreased carbon limitation of litter respiration in a mortality-affected piñon–juniper woodland

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Microbial respiration depends on microclimatic variables and carbon (C) substrate availability, all of which are altered when ecosystems experience major disturbance. Widespread tree mortality, currently affecting piñon–juniper ecosystems in southwestern North America, may affect C substrate availability in several ways, for example, via litterfall pulses and loss of root exudation. To determine piñon mortality effects on C and water limitation of microbial respiration, we applied field amendments (sucrose and water) to two piñon–juniper sites in central New Mexico, USA: one with a recent (< 1 yr), experimentally induced mortality event and a nearby site with live canopy. We monitored the respiration response to water and sucrose applications to the litter surface and to the underlying mineral soil surface, testing the following hypotheses: (1) soil respiration in a piñon–juniper woodland is water- and labile C-limited in both the litter layer and mineral soil; (2) piñon mortality reduces the C limitation of litter respiration; and (3) piñon mortality enhances the C limitation of mineral soil respiration. Litter respiration at both sites responded to increased water availability, yet surprisingly, mineral soil respiration was not limited by water. Consistent with hypothesis 2, C limitation of litter respiration was lower at the recent mortality site compared to the intact canopy site. Applications to the mineral soil showed evidence of reduction in CO₂ flux on the girdled site and a non-significant increase on the control. We speculate that the reduction may have been driven by water-induced carbonate dissolution, which serves as a sink for CO₂ and would reduce the net flux. Widespread piñon mortality may decrease labile C limitation of litter respiration, at least during the first growing season following mortality

show abstract

“…2000-2010 had roots in a complex of long-term drivers that include: (1) a series of fires and timber harvests throughout the twentieth century that created large, contiguous patches of mature, beetle-susceptible lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) stands; (2) the natural history of lodgepole pine, a species that often grows in even-aged stands, which are eventually "reset" by stand-replacing fire or insect outbreaks; (3) climate variables that led to droughts, higher summer temperatures, and warmer winters, all of which facilitate the flipping of MPB populations from endemic to epidemic levels (Raffa et al 2008); (4) past MPB control efforts on the part of the USFS, such as those implemented during outbreaks in the midtwentieth century and early 1980s (Furniss 2007, Andrews 2011. Against the backdrop of these long-term drivers, the 2000-2010 outbreak in northwest Colorado formed one particularly active epicenter of a continental-scale MPB outbreak that outpaced any prior native forest epidemic in North American history (Mitton andFerrenberg 2012, Petersen andStuart 2014). The state of Colorado estimates that over 1.3 million hectares statewide were affected by the MPB (CSFS 2017; Fig.…”

Section: Environmental Governance and Extreme Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The present study contributes to a burgeoning literature on the governance of environmental extremes through an analysis of the social and political responses to a landscape-scale outbreak of the native mountain pine beetle (MPB; Dendroctonus ponderosae) in the state of Colorado, USA. The state of Colorado was arguably the most heavily affected U. S. state in a forest insect epidemic of unprecedented scale that stretched from Mexico to northern Canada and resulted in forest dieback across millions of hectares during the first decade of the twenty-first century (Mitton andFerrenberg 2012, Petersen andStuart 2014). We analyze how the long-term institutional evolution of the USFS (the agency responsible for managing the majority of beetle-affected forests in Colorado and the broader U.S. West) intersected with local-and regional-scale actions to shape the managerial, organizational, and institutional response to this epidemic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation to a landscape-scale mountain pine beetle epidemic in the era of networked governance: the enduring importance of bureaucratic institutions

Abrams¹,

Huber-Stearns²,

Bone³

et al. 2017

E&S

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ABSTRACT. Landscape-scale forest disturbance events have become increasingly common worldwide under the combined influences of climate change and ecosystem modification. The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) epidemic that swept through North American forests from the late 1990s through the early 2010s was one of the largest such disturbance events on record and triggered shocks to ecological and economic systems. We analyze the policy and governance responses to this event by focusing on three national forests in the state of Colorado and on the agency responsible for their management, the U.S. Forest Service. We found that the event triggered the formation of new hybrid agency/nonagency organizations that contributed both legitimacy and capacity to address the most immediate threats to human safety and infrastructure. Despite the use of a highly networked governance structure, longstanding U.S. Forest Service institutions continued to heavily influence the scope of the response and the means for implementing management activities. We detected relatively limited institutional response at the level of the agency as a whole, even as regional-and local-scale institutions within Colorado showed greater dynamism. Indeed, the changes to agency institutions that were detected were largely consistent with institutional change trajectories already in place prior to the epidemic. Our study points to the importance of institutional persistence and path dependence in limiting the latitude for adaptation to social and environmental shocks.

show abstract

Mountain Pine Beetle Develops an Unprecedented Summer Generation in Response to Climate Warming

Cited by 169 publications

References 48 publications

Fungal Frequency and Mite Load Trends Interact with a Declining Mountain Pine Beetle Population

Fungal Frequency and Mite Load Trends Interact with a Declining Mountain Pine Beetle Population

Decreased carbon limitation of litter respiration in a mortality-affected piñon–juniper woodland

Adaptation to a landscape-scale mountain pine beetle epidemic in the era of networked governance: the enduring importance of bureaucratic institutions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About