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Project ID: 06-2-1-20

Year: 2006

Date Started: 08/16/2006

Date Completed: 09/30/2009

Title: Reciprocal Interactions Between Bark Beetles and Wildfire in Subalpine Forests: Landscape Patterns and the Risk of High-Severity Fire

Project Proposal Abstract: Our project addresses Task 1 in AFP 2006-2. Wildfire and bark beetle epidemics are two ecologically important natural disturbances in the Intermountain West, yet we know very little about how these two phenomena interact. It is widely believed that beetle-killed trees increase the risk of severe fires, and that trees that are weakened, but not killed by fire are thought to be more susceptible to beetle invasion. However, few studies have rigorously tested these hypotheses. Our objectives are to combine intensive field studies, broad-scale analyses based on satellite imagery and aerial photography and simulation modeling to describe the spatial patterns of past and current beetle outbreaks in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) and portions of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), and quantify the reciprocal interactions of each disturbance on the pattern and severity of the other. We will map the distribution and broad-scale patterns of current and past beetle outbreaks across YNP, and identify the biotic and abiotic factors that influence these patterns, including forest stand characteristics, historic fires, elevation, and geologic substrate. We will then compare the intensity and pattern of the current outbreak with the earlier outbreak described above. In addition, we will investigate how fine-scale variation in stand characteristics such as cone serotiny, occurrence of other pathogens such as white pine blister rust, might influence the susceptibility of trees to beetle infestation. Based on these digital maps of the landscape, we will integrate intensive field studies and remotely sensed data to quantify both live and dead fuel amounts and relate this to time-since-beetle activity, and will identify relationships between previous MPB outbreaks and subsequent fire severity. Finally, we will determine whether fire-damaged trees are, in fact, more susceptible to beetle invasion, and if they may serve as foci for infestation and spread of bark beetles. The GYE is currently experiencing an outbreak of unprecedented intensity and complexity, involving several species of bark beetles, including the mountain pine beetle. The outbreak is affecting multiple species of coniferous trees in and near recently burned areas, providing a timely opportunity to investigate these interactions at multiple scales. We hypothesize that the increased risk of fire following beetle outbreaks is ephemeral, and the longer-term influence of tree mortality is actually a reduction in the likelihood of severe fires. We further hypothesize that fire-damaged trees may not be more susceptible to beetle activity due to competition with other pathogens. This research involves collaboration and cooperation with several federal land management agencies in the GYE and will significantly improve our understanding of the interactions of wildfire and beetle outbreaks and how these interactions influence the structure and function of forested ecosystems in the GYE.

Principal Investigator: Daniel B. Tinker

Agency/Organization: University of Wyoming

Branch or Dept: Department of Botany

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Co-Principal Investigator	William H Romme	Colorado State University	Department of Forest, Rangeland & Watershed Stewardship
Co-Principal Investigator	Philip A. Townsend	University of Wisconsin-Madison	Department of Forest & Wildlife Ecology
Co-Principal Investigator	Monica G. Turner	University of Wisconsin-Madison	Department of Zoology
Federal Cooperator	Roy Renkin	NPS-National Park Service	Yellowstone National Park

Project Locations

Consortium

Northern Rockies

There are no project locations identified for this project.

Project Deliverables

Final Report ("Results presented in JFSP Final Reports may not have been peer-reviewed and should be interpreted as tentative until published in a peer-reviewed source.")

	ID	Type	Title
	9775	Refereed Publication	Nitrogen Cycling Following Mountain Pine Beetle Disturbance in Lodgepole Pine Forests of Greater Yellowstone
	9454	Refereed Publication	Wildfire Provides Refuge From Local Extinction but is an Unlikely Driver of Outbreaks by Mountain Pine Beetle
	8908	Refereed Publication	Do Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreaks Change the Probability of Active Crown Fire in Lodgepole Pine Forests? (in Ecological Monographs)
	8920	Refereed Publication	What Explains Landscape Patterns of Tree Mortality Caused by Bark Beetle Outbreaks in Greater Yellowstone?
	8911	Refereed Publication	Cross-Scale Drivers of Natural Disturbances Prone to Anthropogenic Amplification: The Dynamics of Bark Beetle Eruptions (in BioScience)
	9812	NonRefereed Publication	Commentary on the Simard paper in the Journal Ecology 93(4)
	8961	NonRefereed Publication	Annotated Bibliography for Forest Managers on Fire-Bark Beetle Interactions
	9011	MS Thesis	Interactions Among Disturbance Agents in Conifer Forests: Does Fire Injury Increase Susceptibility of Lodgepole Pine to Mountain Pine Beetles and Influence Their Population Dynamics? (E.N. Powell)
	8910	MS Thesis	Interactions of White Pine Blister Rust, Host Species, and Mountain Pine Beetle in Whitebark Pine Ecosystems in the Greater Yellowstone (N.K. Bockino)
	8909	Ph.D. Dissertation	Bark Beetle-Fire-Forest Interactions in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Supporting Documents

The following supporting documents are available for this project.

	Brief
	Related Document

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