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Mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) and invasive…

- - - - Pec, G., Karst, J., Sywenky, A., et al. (2015). Rapid increases in forest understory diversity and productivity following a mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreak in pine forests. When examining negative effects of MPB outbreaks, in this case the potential link between MPB and invasive vegetation, it can be easy to forget that MPB are a vital and natural part of typical ecosystem services and patterns. Disturbance is a part of nature, hence why some processes such as prescribed burns are utilized. It is important to keep in mind not to demonize MPB, but to treat them as a natural disturbance whose impact may be influenced by other factors.
      - Astrup, R., Coates, K. D., & Hall, E. (2008). Recruitment limitation in forests: lessons from an unprecedented mountain pine beetle epidemic.
        This article provides a good look at forest response following a large-scale outbreak of MPB. Interestingly, it highlights a potential shift in tree dynamics, predicting that stands will be dominated by fir as time goes on. This is because other factors, such as shading and seedbed distribution, limit species such as the lodgepole pine.
      - Steinke, J., McIntosh, A. C., Schroeder, L., & Macdonald, S. E. (2020). Understory vegetation responses to simulated mountain pine beetle attack and salvage logging in grey attack stage lodgepole pine stands. Understanding the landscape changes that follow MPB outbreaks are an important aspect of my proposed thesis topic. Unsurprisingly, this study found that the magnitude of change in the understory depends on how great the MPB outbreak is to begin with. They also found that salvage logging resulted in a greater observable change than the outbreak itself, something to consider when studying the proposed link between invasive vegetation and MPB-caused tree mortality. While MPB are a natural part of the cycle of disturbance, the understory vegetation demonstrated resilience to low and moderate levels of outbreak, but high MPB-caused tree mortality and subsequent logging operations had a more severe effect.
      - Pappas, G. S., Tinker, D. B., & Rocca, M. E. (2020). Understory vegetation response to mountain pine beetle disturbance in northern Colorado lodgepole pine forests.
        Much like the Steinke et al article, this one is examining responses in understory vegetation to MPB disturbance events. Observations over a five-year period saw that graminoids seemed to benefit the most from the changes in the overstory, though a large increase in new tree seedlings was also observed; this makes sense, as the death of older trees makes way for new ones - part of the reason why disturbance events are necessary. A better understanding of the ways - positive and negative - that MPB impact their host environments is critical to the research I wish to conduct.