Abstract
The impacts of insects and pathogens on forests vary from natural thinning to extraordinary levels of tree mortality, but the fact that insects and diseases kill trees does not necessarily make them enemies of the forest (Teale and Castello 2011). If disturbances, pests, and diseases are viewed in their full ecological context, then some amount can be considered “healthy” to sustain the structure of the forest (Manion 2003, Zhang and others 2011) by causing the tree mortality that culls weak competitors and releases resources that are needed to support the growth of the surviving trees (Teale and Castello 2011).
Parent Publication
Citation
Potter, Kevin M.; Paschke, Jeanine L. 2014. Chapter 2 - Large-scale patterns of insect and disease activity in the conterminous United States and Alaska from the National Insect and Disease Survey, 2011