wildfire in the Pinelands? Matt Ayres, Carissa Aoki, Jeff Lombardo, - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Ecology of southern pine beetle: a smokeless wildfire in the Pinelands? Matt Ayres, Carissa Aoki, Jeff Lombardo, Dartmouth, Hanover, NH www.dartmouth.edu\~mpayres Brian T. Sullivan, Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Pineville LA Ronald F. Billings, Texas Forest Service, College Station, TX Dartmouth

Southern pine beetle Dendroctonus frontalis

e.g., Dendroctonus in North America

New Jersey Pines, Dec 2010

Whitehall Road October 2011 (Bob Williams)

Episodic outbreaks No. of infestations 16000 TEXAS 14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Year

Standardized pheromone trapping survey 1988 1995 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Ronald Billings, Texas Forest Service 1987

Bankhead National Forest, AL: 80 km 2 infested during 1998-2000

Bankhead National Forest, AL 80 km 2 infested during 1998-2000 ~10,000 truckloads of finished lumber worth $50-80 million Link to Ylioja et al. 2005. Forest Science .

Smokeless wildfires? Whitehall Road October 2011 (Bob Williams)

Smokeless wildfires? C 6 H 12 O 6 + 6O 2 6CO 2 + 6H 2 0 Whitehall Road October 2011 (Bob Williams)

Smokeless wildfires? C 6 H 12 O 6 + 6O 2 6CO 2 + 6H 2 0 • Episodic and contagious. • Kills small to very large tracts of trees. • Reduces extent of mature forest. • Alters biodiversity. • Creates hazard trees. • Lowers property values. • Reduces recreational opportunities. • Destabilizes hydrology. • Alters N cycling. • Releases stored carbon from ecosystem. • Can change forest type (e.g., pines to hardwoods; forest to scrub). Whitehall Road October 2011 (Bob Williams)

Relevant to: biodiversity, wildlife, recreation aesthetics, conservation biology, fire management, water quality, economics, carbon storage …

Forest Climate management Fungal Interspecific interactions Tree Forest competition defenses structure Specialist predator Abundance Scramble competition Year

Aggregation pheromones -  Mass attack

Tree oleoresin

Verbenone Myrtenol Endo-brevicomin

N = beetle abundance R = per capita population change N R

Link to dynamic visualization of spot growth

Photosynthesis Carbohydrates (g / tree) Growth Pete Lorio Growth-differentiation balance hypothesis Secondary Loomis 1932, Lorio 1986, metabolism Herms and Mattson 1992, Wilkens et al. 1997, Warren et Water or nutrient al. 1999, Lombardero et al. 2000 availability

Predation Turchin, P., A. D. Taylor, and J. D. Reeve. 1999. Dynamical role of predators in population cycles of a forest insect: an experimental test. Science 285: 1068-1071.

Intraspecific competition 0.8 Probability of survival 0.4 0 0 50 100 Eggs / dm2 Reeve, J. D., D. J. Rhodes, and P. Turchin. 1998. Scramble competition in southern pine beetle (Coleoptera: Scolytidae). Ecol Entomol 23: 433-443.

Oviposition and inoculation

Mycangium of D. frontalis Photomicrographs by Stan Barras

Mycangium Mutualistic fungus

Insect – fungal interactions Ophiostoma minus & Dendroctonus frontalis Ayres et al. 2000. Ecology Lombardero et al. 2000 Ag. & For. Entomol Klepzig et al. 2000. Symbiosis Lombardero et al. 2002 Oikos Hofstetter et al., Oecologia , in press

O. minus is an antagonist of D. frontalis 30 Outside O. minus bluestain 25 Number of samples 20 Within O. minus bluestain 15 10 5 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Survival of D. frontalis larvae (%)

Tarsonemus mites are mutualists with O. minus

Link to video Tarsonemus mites

Tarsonemus krantzi Sporotheca

Tarsonemus krantzi Ascospores of O. minus

Other phoretic micro-associates Link to video

Tarsonemus mites + + Ophiostoma minus - - Mycangial fungi + + D. frontalis + - An interaction Pine tree chain

Whitehall Road October 2011 (Bob Williams)

Lower lethal temperatures 5 Temperature (°C) 0 -5 -10 SCP = -12 °C = LLT -15 -20 -25 Time (min)

pupae adults larvae prepupae Lombardero, Ayres, Ayres, Reeve. 2000. Env. Entomol. Tran, Ylioja, Regniere, Billings, and Ayres. Ecological Applications , 2007

Recent epidemics in north New Jersey 2001-2010 Ohio 2000-2001 Kentucky 1999-2000

Minimum winter temperature in southeastern U.S. has increased 3.3 °C in 40 years 6 4 2 0 °C (residuals) -2 -4 -6 -8 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Year Tran, Ylioja, Regniere, Billings, and Ayres. Ecological Applications , 2007

Southern pine beetle New Jersey

Dendroica caerulescens 60 Birds / 64 ha 40 20 Richard Holmes et al., Dartmouth, Hubbard Brook Forest 0 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 Dendroctonus frontalis No. of infestations 16000 TEXAS 14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Year

R t = f ( N t ) + ε t N t+1 = N t ∙ exp( R t )

Multiple equilibria model Per capita growth rate + 0 - Population size

Multiple equilibria model Per capita growth rate Stable Stable equilibrium equilibrium + 0 - K endemic K epidemic Population size

Multiple equilibria model Per capita growth rate Unstable equilibrium Stable Stable equilibrium equilibrium + 0 - Escape K endemic K epidemic threshold Population size

Sharon Martinson And Ron Billings, Tiina Ylioja, Brian Sullivan

R , per capita growth + 0 - N , Abundance

Carissa Aoki

Jeff Lombardo High basal area stand Windspeed (km / h) Low basal area stand Date

Becky Niemiec: ecological economics of SPB in The Pinelands Advised by Professor Richard Howarth, Environmental Studies, Dartmouth. Rich’s homepage

Milo Johnson Link to Milo’s blog from The Pinelands

Charlie Governali: predators of southern pine beetle

R , per capita growth + 0 - Environment affects strength and domain of alternate attractors N , Abundance

Adaptive management Theoretical model, uncertainty Management Management System challenge response response Repeat as needed

Climate Bluestain fungus Predators Tree defenses Forest structure Beetle Beetle abundance at abundance at time t time t+1 Monitoring Suppression Prevention

Additive mortality Weak density- dependent recruitment Compensatory mortality Strong density- dependent recruitment Nichols, J. D., M. C. Runge, F. A. Johnson, and B. K. Williams. 2007. Adaptive harvest management of North American waterfowl populations a brief history and future prospects. Journal of Ornithology 148S: 343-S349.

Duhamel de Monceau "Traité complet des bois et forests“ 1755-1768.