WWETAC Projects
Project Title: Mexican bark beetle atlas
Principal Investigators: Jane Hayes, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station; Alan Ager, Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center
Collaborator: Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, México
Status: Completed
E-mail Contact: Jane Hayes, jlhayes[at]fs.fed.us; Alan Ager, aager[at]fs.fed.us
Summary: Bark beetles belonging to the genus Dendroctonus are a wide-ranging and important disturbance agent in the pine forests of Mexico. As the climate changes, Mexican bark beetles may migrate north into U.S. forests, potentially causing widespread mortality. A new atlas maps the present and potential distribution for bark beetle species. The atlas also quantifies the frequency of specific pine-bark beetle associations found in historical collections and provides new information on the host specificity. Researchers created a beetle threat index and used it to map where beetle populations might have the largest impact on 25 native pine species.
The atlas can be used by researchers in a variety of biogeographical studies to further describe the distributions of bark beetle populations relative to their host species and their potential distribution under future climate scenarios. Managers can use the atlas to understand where bark beetles will likely have future impacts on pine forests in Mexico.
Figure 1. Bark Beetle Threat Index of the genus Dendroctonus on pine forests in México. Taken from: Salinas-Moreno, Y., et al., Determining the vulnerability of Mexican pine forests to bark beetles of the genus Dendroctonus Erichson (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae). Forest Ecol. Manage. (2010), doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2010.03.029
Project ID: FY08AA48
