Bark beetle outbreaks have resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of conifers on approximately 30 million hectares of forested lands in western North America during the last decade. Many forests remain susceptible to bark beetle infestation and will continue to experience high levels of conifer mortality until suitable host trees are depleted, or natural factors cause populations to collapse. Stand conditions and drought, combined with warming temperatures, have contributed to the severity of these outbreaks, particularly in high-elevation forests.

Conventional wisdom suggests that large scale bark beetle outbreaks alter fuel complexes resulting in an increased potential for severe fires. Conversely, fires damage trees that may predispose them to bark beetle attack. In reality there is little specific quantified data supporting these assertions, and until recently, relationships between fire and western bark beetles in forests of North America have not been extensively studied. The magnitude of recent outbreaks and large wildfires has resulted in a flurry of research attempting to quantify bark beetle/fire/fuel interactions.
 
We hope and expect that our freely accessible, online bibliography may be of great benefit to any scholarly research. The bibliography searching can be conducted through titles, by author name, or by descriptive words. Where possible, full text of the documents are provided as PDF documents.

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2013

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Do Bark Beetle Outbreaks Increase Wildfire Risks in the Central U.S. Rocky Mountains? Implications from Recent Research, Scott H. Black, Dominik Kulakowski, Barry R. Noon, and Dominick A. DellaSala

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Bark beetle effects on fuel profiles across a range of stand structures in Douglas-fir forests of Greater Yellowstone, Daniel C. Donato, Brian J. Harvey, William H. Romme, Martin Simard, and Monica G. Turner

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Low-severity fires increase susceptibility of lodgepole pine to mountain pine beetle outbreaks in Colorado, Dominik Kulalowski and Daniel Jarvis

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Modeling wind fields and fire propagation following bark beetle outbreaks in spatially-heterogeneous pinyon-juniper woodland fuel complexes, Rodman R. Linn, Carolyn H. Sieg, Chad M. Hoffman, Judith L. WInterkamp, and Joel D. McMillin

2012

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Bark beetle outbreaks, wildfires and defensible space : how much are do we need to treat to protect homes and communities?, Glen Aronson and Dominik Kulakowski

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The Effects of Bark Beetle Outbreaks on Forest Development, Fuel Loads and Potential Fire Behavior in Salvage Logged and Untreated Lodgepole Pine Forests, B J. Collins, C C. Rhoades, M A. Battaglia, and R M. Hubbard

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Effects of Bark Beetle-Caused Tree Mortality on Wildfire, Jeffrey A. Hicke, Morris C. Johnson, Jane L. Hayes, and Haiganoush K. Preisler

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Fuel loadings 5 years after a bark beetle outbreak in south-western USA ponderosa pine forests, Chad M. Hoffman, Carolyn Hull Sieg, Joel D. McMillin, and Peter Z. Fule

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Numerical Simulation of Crown Fire Hazard Immediately after Bark Beetle-Caused Mortality in Lodgepole Pine Forests, Chad Hoffmann, Penelope Morgan, William Mell, Russell Parsons, Eva K. Strand, and Stephen Cook

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Fuels and fire behavior dynamics in bark beetle-attacked forests in Western North America and implications for fire management, Michael J. Jenkins, Wesley G. Page, Elizabeth G. Hebertson, and Martin E. Alexander

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Relationships between moisture, chemistry, and ignition of Pinus contorta needles during the early stages of mountain pine beetle attack, W. Matt Jolly, Russell A. Parsons, Ann M. Hadlow, Greg M. Cohn, Sara S. McAllister, John B. Popp, Robert M. Hubbard, and Jose F. Negron

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Ecology Comments & Reply: Do mountain pine beetle outbreaks change the probability of active crown fire in lodgepole pine forests?, Christopher J. Moran, W. Matt Jolly, and Martin Simard

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Mountain Pine Beetle Attack Alters the Chemistry and Flammability of Lodgepole Pine Foliage, Wesley G. Page, Michael J. Jenkins, and Justin B. Runyon

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Wildfire provides refuge from local extinction but is an unlikely driver of outbreaks by mountain pine beetle, Erinn N. Powell, Philip A. Townsend, and Kenneth F. Raffa

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Effects of Mountain Pine Beetle on Fuels and Expected Fire Behavior in Lodgepole Pine Forests, Colorado, USA, Tania Schoennagel, Thomas T. Veblen, Jose F. Negron, and Jeremy M. Smith

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Bark beetles and fire: two forces of nature transforming western forests, Gail Wells

2011

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Changes in litter and dead wood loads following tree death beneath subalpine conifer species in northern Colorado, Christof Bigler and Thomas T. Veblen

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Fire and High-Elevation, Five-Needle Pine (Pinus aristata & P. flexilis) Ecosystems in the Southern Rocky Mountains: What Do We Know?, Jonathan D. Coop and Anna W. Schoettle

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Mountain pine beetle host-range expansion threatens the boreal forest, Catherine I. Cullingham, Janice E.K. Cooke, Sophiw Dang, Corey S. Davis, Barry J. Cooke, and David W. Coltman

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Forest developmental trajectories in mountain pine beetle disturbed forests of Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, Matthew Diskin, Monique E. Rocca, Kellen N. Nelson, Carissa F. Aoki, and W H. Romme

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Fire Injury Reduces Inducible Defenses of Lodgepole Pine against Mountain Pine Beetle, Powell N. Erinn and Kenneth F. Raffa

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Fuel and Fire Behavior in High-Elevation Five-Needle Pines Affected by Mountain Pine Beetle, Michael J. Jenkins

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Resources for Managing the Impact of Bark Beetle Activity on Conifer Fuels and Fire Behavior, Michael J. Jenkins, Elizabeth G. Hebertson, Wesley G. Page, and Wanda E. Lindquist

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Forest structure altered by mountain pine beetle outbreaks affects subsequent attack in a Wyoming lodgepole pine forest, USA, Daniel M. Kashian, Rebecca M. Jackson, and Heather D. Lyons

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Evaluating Potential Fire Behavior in Lodgepole Pine-Dominated Forests after a Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic in North-Central Colorado, Jennifer G. Klutsch, Mike A. Battaglia, West R. Daniel, Sheryl L. Costello, and Jose F. Negron