TY - JOUR
T1 - The pollen record of a 20th century spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) outbreak in a Colorado subalpine forest, USA
AU - Anderson, R. Scott
AU - Smith, Susan J.
AU - Lynch, Ann M.
AU - Geils, Brian W.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to Chris Black, John Wiley, Eric Feiler and Mike Timpson for assistance in sediment coring; Teh-Lung (Richard) Ku for analyzing the 210 Pb and 137 Cs profiles; Dan Boone for help in photographing the sediments; Kirsten Ironside for Fig. 1 , and Tony DeLuz for Fig. 4 ; and Andrea Brunelle and one anonymous reviewer for their insightful comments. We also thank Jeff Overturf, Jerry Schmidt, Liz Mauch, and Robin Inhelder (US Forest Service) for their assistance. This research was funded, in part by cooperative agreements (USDA 28-JV7-949 and USDA 04-JV-11221615-317). Laboratory of Paleoecology Contribution # 127.
Copyright:
Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2010/7
Y1 - 2010/7
N2 - The frequency and intensity of ecosystem disturbance, including outbreaks of forest insects and forest fires, is expected to increase in the future as a result of higher temperatures and prolonged drought. While many studies have concentrated on the future climatic impacts on fire, little is known about the impact of future climate on insect infestation. Paleoecological techniques are important in this regard in identifying the potential relationships between climate and insect outbreaks in the past, as a predictive tool for the future. We examine a high-resolution 20th century record of spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) infestation from a small, subalpine lake, comparing the paleoecological record to the historical and tree-ring record of the event. An extensive spruce beetle outbreak occurred in northwestern Colorado during the 1940s and 1950s, causing widespread mortality of mature Picea engelmannii. Pollen analysis of this period documents the decline of Picea and its replacement locally by Abies lasiocarpa, paralleling age and composition studies of modern forest stands in the region. This study is a proof of concept that, when applied to longer sedimentary records, could produce a detailed record of infestation for the Late Holocene or older time periods. This information will be useful to forest managers in efforts to plan for the effects of D. rufipennis infestations, and subsequent succession within high elevation conifer forests.
AB - The frequency and intensity of ecosystem disturbance, including outbreaks of forest insects and forest fires, is expected to increase in the future as a result of higher temperatures and prolonged drought. While many studies have concentrated on the future climatic impacts on fire, little is known about the impact of future climate on insect infestation. Paleoecological techniques are important in this regard in identifying the potential relationships between climate and insect outbreaks in the past, as a predictive tool for the future. We examine a high-resolution 20th century record of spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) infestation from a small, subalpine lake, comparing the paleoecological record to the historical and tree-ring record of the event. An extensive spruce beetle outbreak occurred in northwestern Colorado during the 1940s and 1950s, causing widespread mortality of mature Picea engelmannii. Pollen analysis of this period documents the decline of Picea and its replacement locally by Abies lasiocarpa, paralleling age and composition studies of modern forest stands in the region. This study is a proof of concept that, when applied to longer sedimentary records, could produce a detailed record of infestation for the Late Holocene or older time periods. This information will be useful to forest managers in efforts to plan for the effects of D. rufipennis infestations, and subsequent succession within high elevation conifer forests.
KW - Colorado
KW - Dendroctonus rufipennis
KW - Fire history
KW - Pollen analysis
KW - Spruce beetle outbreak
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U2 - 10.1016/j.foreco.2010.05.001
DO - 10.1016/j.foreco.2010.05.001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77954176123
SN - 0378-1127
VL - 260
SP - 448
EP - 455
JO - Forest Ecology and Management
JF - Forest Ecology and Management
IS - 4
ER -