Wildfire Provides Refuge from Local Extinction but is an Unlikely Driver of Outbreaks by Mountain Pine Beetle
Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Ecological Monographs
Publication Date
2012
Issue
1
Volume
82
First Page
69
Last Page
84
Abstract
Bark beetle outbreaks and wildfire are important disturbances in conifer ecosystems, yet their interactions are not well understood. We evaluated whether fire injury increased susceptibility of lodgepole pines (Pinus contorta) to mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins), how it influenced beetle reproductive success, and whether beetle population phase altered this interaction. Eight sites that experienced wildfire and eight unburned sites were examined in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (USA). Half were in areas where D. ponderosae was undergoing outbreaks, and half were in areas with low populations. We examined 2056 trees one year after fire for burn injury and beetle attack. We quantified beetle reproductive success in a random sample of 106 trees, and measured gallery areas of D. ponderosae and competing subcortical herbivores in 79 additional trees. Baited flight traps sampled stand-level populations of subcortical herbivores and predators.
Wildfire predisposed trees to D. ponderosae attack, but nonlinearly, with moderately injured trees being most preferred. This tree-level interaction was influenced by stand-level beetle population size, in that both healthy and fire-injured trees of all classes were attacked where populations were high, but no healthy trees, and only low and moderately injured trees were killed where populations were low. The number of adult brood produced per female was likewise curvilinear, being highest in moderately injured trees. This reflected an apparent trade-off, with high intraspecific competition arising from the large number of beetles needed to overcome defenses in healthy trees, vs. high interspecific competition and low substrate quality in more injured trees.
These results suggest that fire-injured trees can provide a reservoir for D. ponderosae during periods when populations are too low to overcome defenses of healthy trees, and might otherwise face localized extinction. However, the likelihood of populations increasing from endemic to outbreak levels in response to increased susceptibility is offset by the opposing constraints of lower substrate quality and higher competitor load in severely injured hosts, and the relative scarcity of moderately injured trees. Wildfire may confer some reproductive increases to populations already outbreaking. We present a conceptual model of how these disturbances and inherent feedbacks interact to affect beetle population dynamics.
Recommended Citation
Powell, E.N; Townsend, P.A.; Raffa, K.F. 2012. Wildfire provides refuge from local extinction but is an unlikely driver of outbreaks by mountain pine beetle. Ecological Monographs. 82(1):69-84.