Colonization of fire-damaged trees by <i>Ips sexdentatus</i> (Boerner) as related to the percentage of burnt crown

The aim of this study is to determine how bark beetles colonise after a wild fire. Five categories of trees were established according to the percentage of burnt crown (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) in a Pinus pinaster forest in Leon province that had been burnt by a wild fire in 1998. During 2000 and 2001 a study was carried out on the percentage of trees attacked in each category, the distribution of attacks on the tree trunk, crown decoloration, number of maternal galleries bored and the number of trees resisting attack. Only 20% of the trees (all of them with 0% unburnt crown) survived the attack. This study shows the capacity of Ips sexdentatus as a primary pest and recommends the removal of dead and dying trees after a wild fire before its population grows large enough to kill the remaining healthy ones.