Open AccessMountain Pine Beetle Infestation: Cycling and Succession in Lodgepole Pine Forests
Author(s) -
William H. Romme,
Joseph B. Yavitt,
Dennis H. Knight,
J. Fedders
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
annual report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2693-2407
pISSN - 2693-2385
DOI - 10.13001/uwnpsrc.1987.2663
Subject(s) - ecological succession , mountain pine beetle , cycling , forestry , disturbance (geology) , geography , ecology , bark beetle , productivity , pinus contorta , outbreak , snag , environmental science , agroforestry , biology , habitat , economics , paleontology , macroeconomics , virology , bark (sound)
This work began in 1980 with the objective of studying the effects of mountain pine beetle outbreaks in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and the surrounding area. The inmediate effects of outbreaks on stand structure have been documented (Roe and Amman 1970, Amman and Cole 1980), but little is known about long-term influences on ecosystem processes such as primary productivity, material cycling, and succession. Thus, our research deals with the effects of beetle outbreaks on (1) rates of growth in surviving trees and total stand productivity, (2) dead woody fuels and fire risk, (3) forest succession, and (4) nutrient cycling.