Forest Health Protection, Southern Region


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USDA Forest Service
Forest Health Protection
Region 8
1720 Peachtree Road, NW
Room 816 N
Atlanta, GA 30309

Phone: (404) 347-7478
Fax: (404) 347-1880

Southern Pine Beetle

Description

Southern pine beetle (SPB) is the most serious insect pest of pine in the South. It prefers loblolly and shortleaf, but will infest all species of southern pine. Suitable host type for SPB is found across the whole South. Major outbreaks usually last 3 to 5 years and occur in irregular cycles of 7 to 10 years. The beetles bore directly through the tree bark. Females construct long, winding, S-shaped tunnels that eventually girdle the tree stopping the flow of nutrients. Infested trees fade to yellow and then bright reddish-brown before losing their needles and dying.

Data

Counties are identified in the Atlas as being in outbreak status for each year that there is more then one multiple tree SPB spot per 1,000 acres of host type in the county. Outbreak status has been recorded by county by year beginning in 1960 and continuing to the present year. Thirteen states in the South have counties that have been in outbreak status at least one year.

The following data items are present in the SPB section of the Atlas:

FIPS - Numeric code to identify the state and county
State_name - The name of the state containing the county
Cnty_name - The name of the county
S1960 to S2003 - The year the outbreak status was recorded (Value of zero means the county was not in outbreak status that year. Value of one means the county was in outbreak status that year)
Outbreak - Number of years the county was been in outbreak status from 1960 to 2003

NOTE: All other data items are used internally by the Geographic Information System software to track the data record.

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USDA Forest Service - Forest Health Protection, Southern Region
Last Modified: Friday, 09 May 2008 at 10:44:57 EDT