Author: Kevin Pellow

Publisher:

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 22

ISBN-13:

The current mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreak exceeds any recorded infestation and is considered a threat to pine species in the boreal and eastern Canadian forest ecosystems. Previous studies have shown that moderate weather and successful fire suppression create prime conditions for MPB growth, which is affecting novel forest habitat. From 2008 to 2010, the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) conducted late spring surveys of MPB infestations in the Peace Region of British Columbia to determine changes in population and infestation levels based on attack and brood densities in infested trees. During 2009 and 2010, similar data was collected by the Alberta Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) on post-winter MPB survival in north-central Alberta. Overwintering population success was determined based on two rating systems of R-values: the Canadian Forest Service Forest Insect and Disease Survey (FIDS) system of the CFS, and the SRD system. R-value was calculated by summing all live mountain pine beetles of various life stages for every plot. The British Columbia and Alberta survey data (the R-values) were combined to determine the distribution of overwintering population success. During 2009 and 2010, the overwintering MPB population success in the Peace Region of British Columbia and adjacent Alberta was based on interpolated maps of SRD ratings of infestations. For comparison, a map for each rating system was created from the 2010 surveys of British Columbia and Alberta.