Key Issues/Problems Addressed: The key issue is a lack of accessible sources of information on the topic of potential influences of climate change on bark beetles of western forests. The daily activity and timing of life cycle events of insects are largely temperature dependent; thus, even subtle changes in climate regimes may have significant consequences with respect to host interactions for phytophagous insects such as bark beetles. While considerable reference material pertinent to this topic exists, it is often scattered across the literature from numerous disciplines, such as entomology, tree physiology, forest ecology, and climate. In many cases, relevant information can be found in papers that are focused on other topics and therefore the relevance is not readily apparent from the title or even the abstract.

Study Objectives and Goals: The purpose of this project is the creation of an easily searchable annotated bibliography for available literature focused on the topic of the potential influences of climate change on bark beetles and their effects on western forests. The objectives of this project are to provide: 1) a list of pertinent literature, and 2) an annotation of each included reference that describes its relevance to the topic. The goal is to provide readers with essential information about sources related to this topic upon which a future search or research may be based.

General Description: The completion of this project will involve a 3-step process: 1) Compile a list of literature pertinent to bark beetles and climate change, beginning with but not limited to the nearly 300 citations from the bark beetle/climate change rapid threat assessment. 2) Provide the annotation of 2-3 sentences which explains the relevance of the citation to the topic (i.e., rationale for including it in the bibliography). 3) Make bibliography available in a searchable web-based format. Abstracts will be provided in addition to annotations in those instances where papers are clearly authored by federal employees and/or published through the government (e.g., FIDLs, station pubs, etc.).

Product: Searchable web database for climate and bark beetles of western North America.

See the Annotated Bibliography of Climate and Forest Diseases of Western North America

Project ID: FY07JB62