Thanks to Ruth for today's write-up and the first of the two photographs (I contributed the second). Ruth writes:
Today's BPotD is not of a plant but rather of the arthropod "anti-plant". The mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae, is a serious pest of the genus Pinus in British Columbia. Ponderosa (Pinus ponderosa), lodgepole (Pinus contorta), (the non-native) Scots (Pinus sylvestris) and limber pine (Pinus flexilis) are all attacked by this beetle. The adult beetles bore through the bark to the phloem (nutrient transport system) where they feed and lay eggs.
Outbreaks of this native beetle in North America have been experienced before, but this outbreak is an order of magnitude more severe than any previously recorded. Recent mild winters and an abundant food supply are considered to be the main cause of the explosion in beetle populations. British Columbia and Alberta apparently have the worst outbreaks, and these can be seen clearly from the air or on distant hillsides (in the second photograph) as reddish-brown patches through the forest. I took the first photograph in September along BC's Highway 5 to Kelowna.
essa foto de baixo esta uma coooooooooooooisa de bela!!!
Very interesting. I think we have some of that here in the Adirondacks if the color of the trees is right. Scary stuff.
does not look good daniel and ruth
i live in florida and we have
a bug attacking our sabal palms
not good at all
The mountain pine beetle is devastating the lodgepole pine in Colorado, with literally millions and millions of lodgepole killed. Greatly increasing the fire danger. The forest service has even closed many public picnic ground due to the danger of lodgepole pines falling on campers. - Millet
It's amazing how hard the Rocky Mountains are getting hit by the beetles. Large areas of pristine Colorado lodgepole forests have been completely wiped out.
Is there an easy way I can upload a couple of my MPB pics?
When you say "An order of Magnitude", do you mean 10X or just "Bigger"?
Arctos, you can upload them to Flickr and then post links. Or, if you have a web server, you can post them into the comment field with the proper HTML.
Eric, an order of magnitude == 10x -- or at least that's what I've been taught.
I live in the Tampa Bay area of FL. We experienced similar problems with pine borer beetles in the 1980s-90s. My family lost almost all of the sand pine on our property. Slash pine and long-leaf pine did not seem to be affected like the sand pine. Pinellas County used to have beautiful pines, it's now practically pine-less due to the beetles and urban sprawl.
We drove through Northern California this summer between Eureka and Redding...huge swaths of the mountainsides were laced through with dead, brown trees.
My wife commented to me that 'that looks like a big fire waiting to happen'; we rounded the next corner and smelled the smoke, we'd just entered the Yolla Bolly Complex fire which had been burning for two months by then.
This outbreak has been going on for several years now. When I visited BC 3 years ago, there were interpretive signs posted explaining the outbreak even then. I have seen vast areas affected in BC and Montana.
Ruth -- You mentioned one of the causitive factors as an abundant food supply. However, lodgepole and ponderosa pine have been abundant for a long time. What is a driving factor in bark beetle outbreaks is drought. Stressed trees are more susceptible to successful bark beetle attack. We have seen increasing areas of drought, earlier spring snowmelt, and generally warmer temperatures; presumably linked to global warming and all of which contribute to hot, dry summers and stressed trees. Because of milder winters, D. ponderosae is surviving in areas where it historically has not; and in some places cycling through more generations/year than before.
We don't have anything like this near Portland right now. Thank goodness.
If there was any kind of an upside to this kind of insect infestation, it would be a dramatic increase of CWD or Coarse Woody Debris in the forest if the trees are left to return to the ground.
Follow up on Bruce J.'s comment. Several years ago we drove down the North Fork of the Thompson while the valley was still smoldering.
Had this valley been heavily infested before the fires?
Also, are there biological agents that attack the beetles?
Bruce V.
Bob: I have often wondered what the role of fire suppression has been on the magnitude of this infestation. Here in Alberta, fire control has been diligent and extensive. The valleys of the Bow and Athabasca rivers in the National Parks were probably not as extensively forested as they are now. Parks Canada is beginning to recognize this now, but the province seems not to.
If you look at BC's energy program, it appears they're counting on all these dead forests to supply their biomass power plants....
No incentive to control the beetle population by pesticide spraying.
Fire retardant is still popular - during the big blazes that make national headlines in the papers...
just a chemist. just a lover of trees.
my hope BC would be spared - just a dream.
wish i was smarter - let's pray for wisdom.
david
Hmmm, native beetle... what are the natural controls in place? Are there any birds that should be eating these beetles? Any fungal or bacterial organisms that normally attack these beetles? Could something else be out of whack with the environment that is allowing the beetles to multiply uncontrolled???
From what I've read about this problem it's not the beele that kills the tree but a fungus thats carried by the beetle. Normally a tree will naturally heal wound to their bark.
As a Master Gardener for 20 yrs now, I have been following the this beetle. A few years ago it was transported into New England on nursey plants. Working with the Extension Service at Universty of Massachusetts. Many Master Gardeners went through workshops to learn more. In this way were able to help local nurseies and garden centers check in coming bushes from northern California. Now of course all stock is check before it is even sent our way.
Thank you for the pictures ,
Margaret-Rae
Hmmm, in our case, a Pine Bark Beetle attacks certain pines and transmits nematodes which then multiply and plug up the cambium killing the tree rapidly. But this beetle is transmitting a fungus? So far Lodgepole and Ponderosa Pines are listed as being susceptible to Mountain Pine Beetle attack. Any others?
I was not totally not correct in stating that it is a fungas that kills the tree. The relationship between the fungas and the beetle is a symbiotic one in which the beetle transports the fungus around in its mouth. The female bores into the tree and releases a pheromone that attracks males so on and so on until there is large number attacking the tree. In responce to this attack the tree releases a toxic resin that can kill the beetles but the fungus that they carry with them stops the spread of the resin. The females lay eggs under the bark and the larva feed on the fungus and when they leave the tree after it dies they carry the fungus along to the next tree.
A plant I brought home from a local nursery bloomed overnight with a (prodigious!) swarm of Japanese beetles which resulted in infestation of my property for years here in the Northern California Sierra foothills.
I was fortunate to discover an on-line biological controls outfit: greenmethods.com, who supplied me with one (fresh) application of nematodes which promptly (within a week!) took care of the then-chronic problem! There has been no recurrence 2 years later. (Also took out Thrips.) I've not been successful with flying predators but, because the nematodes are transmitted via a simple localized spray-solution application, the wee allies seem to be quite controllable and remarkably effective. Since research concurs that Pine beetles are also predated by nematodes, why not employ cropdusters to drop nematodes on infested forest areas? Forest Service.. please.. step up.