Area-wide efficacy of a localized forest pest management practice

Abstract

Few experimental studies have examined the movement of forest pest populations, particularly in response to management tactics that disrupt the growth of pest infestations.We quantified the interinfestation patterns of dispersal of the southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis, by monitoring the fates of marked beetles after emergence from small natural infestations.Dispersal patterns from three untreated infestations were compared with six infestations treated with the widely used disruption suppression tactic, cut-and-leave.Dispersal by beetles emerging from disrupted infestations showed a similar pattern to untreated infestations with respect to distance, but a much greater fraction of the beetles were recaptured at each distance.This suggests that by altering the dispersal pattern of the beetles, the cut-and-leave suppression tactic may favor increased densities of flying beetles, and possibly more infested timber, in the surrounding region.

Keywords

dendroctonus frontalis, bark beetles, dispersal, mark-recapture experiment, pest management strategies, spatial dynamics

Citation

Cronin, J.T.; Turchin, P.; Hayes, J.L.; Steiner, C.A. 1999. Area-wide efficacy of a localized forest pest management practice. Environmental Entomology 28: 496-504