3. What is the niche of the Mountain Pine Beetle?

1. Question 1: Describe the Mountain Pine Beetle life cycle. Describe the phases of population growth for Mountain Pine Beetles (ie:endemic, incipient, epidemic, declining). • Mountain pine beetle have a one year life cycle. The beetle first attacks a tree and the finds a mate to lay its eggs with. Each pair of mates lays up to 75 eggs in a vertical tunnel that they created. At the end of summer, the beetles leave the dead tree in which they have affected. The larvae then tunnel away from the current vertical tunnel, and eats a specific diet throughout the rest of the winter, being able to survive the harsh cold temperatures by producing a anti-freeze alcohol that surrounds them. In the spring, the larvae continue to eat and eventually change into a pupae in June or July. • http://csfs.colostate.edu/pages/mountain-pine-beetle.html • Endemic phase -when predation and climate change produce normal population growth. When this happens the beetle attack older and weaker trees, which in a way can help the tree population by having new, younger, and healthier trees grow in place of old weak trees. • Incipient phase- When the number of beetles is increasing due to the fact that a limiting factor, such as water, or cold temperatures, is missing. • Epidemic phase- when the number of beetles is increasing at a very rapid rate, and then therefor giving them the ability to attack all matured trees in a given area. • Declining phase- The number of beetles is declining for one of two reasons. One is that there aren’t enough trees to host the vast number of pine beetles, or that the cold climate brings the number of beetles back down to epidemic levels. This phase is the final stage of an epidemic cycle.

2. Physical and Biological Conditions 3. What is the niche of the Mountain Pine Beetle? • Physical and Biological Conditions • How they use those conditions? • Develop in Pine, ponderosa, Lodge pole, Scotch, and Lumber Pine Trees • Attack large trees that are under stress, injured, in poor site conditions, have fire damage, have root disease, or are old • One-year life cycle • Population levels can increase, when sufficient food is available (trees) • 2-4 reproductive cycles per year • Cannot survive in temperature 30◦ F below zero or above 110◦ F • Females seek out large diameter and attack the tree by tunneling through the bark. • Once they mate, they form a vertical tunnel(egg gallery) and produce 75 eggs • When eggs hatch, they tunnel away from gallery to produce a characteristic feeding pattern • Larvae spend winter under bark, transform into pupae in June/July and exit the trees in late July/August • Predators: birds (especially woodpeckers); other beetles, flies, and wasps

3. Question 3: What is the niche of the Mountain Pine Beetle? • Mountain Pine Beetles attack all types of pines, develop particularly in ponderosa, lodgepoles, scotch and limber pines. • They lay their eggs under the bark of the pines, where the larvae tunnel and feed on the tree. The larvae eat and grow as much as possible before winter sets in, constructing side galleries at approximately right angles to the main gallery. The beetles' ecological niche is the inside of its host tree. They live in the trees because they need a place to stay when there are dramatic shifts in geographic range of temperature. The two factors which directly affect its environment are the local climate and the condition of the tree it lives in. The climate is not ours to control. The pine beet Severe winter cold or cold snaps in early fall can decimate an epidemic population, but certainly cannot be depended on for reliable beetle control. The second factor, the condition of lodgepole pine trees, can be influenced by man. It is only by managing the lodgepole pine forest to produce conditions unfavorable to beetles that effect beetle, that is when control can take place. http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/bib98295.pdf

4. 4. How Do Pine Beetles Affect Trees? Which Trees? • Mountain Pine Beetles develop in pines particularly in Ponderosa, Lodgepole, Scotch, and Limber Pine. • During early stages of an outbreak attacks are limited largely to trees under stress from injury, poor site conditions, fire damage, overcrowding, root disease and old age. • Once a tree is infested there is no way to save the tree • Once a tree is infested the tree dies but is left standing • Native insects kill individual trees but do not threaten the existence of an entire plant species.

5. Question 6: Has temperature changed in Colorado in the last 100 years? What about precipitation? • - The temperature in Colorado has steadily increased from 1900 to 2010. Fort Collins, Steamboat Springs, Akron, Grand Junction, Cheyenne Wells, Montrose, Rocky Ford and Trinidad are all close cities together in Colorado and the temperature has increased by the least of two degrees in 100 years. The only exception is at Lamar, which has actually dropped two degrees of temperature in the last hundred years. 2 119002010 The precipitation in Colorado with the same cities above have all been constant from year to year for a hundred years. The level of precipitation would drop slowly and rise slowly yearly

6. 6.Has temperature changed in Colorado in the last 100 years? • In 2008 study looking at temperature over the last 100 years in Colorado, the temperature increased. • Eastern Colorado had a more extreme temperature change than Western Colorado • In the 1960’s and 1980’s the temperature had increased the most and showed the most change than the previous 40 to 50 years. • only Lamar, Colorado had surprisingly a steady decrease in temperature. • Average temperature in 1910 was 49.2 degrees • Average temperature now is 51.9 degrees

7. 6.Precipitation in Colorado in the last 100 years • Precipitation has not significantly changed over the last 100 years • A spike in precipitation occurred around 1945 after what seemed to be a drought, then leveled off again. • In 1980’s the precipitation had also spiked but then dropped down quickly. • Between 1950’s and 1970’s there was a period of low precipitation. • Average precipitation throughout Colorado was 15 inches annually from 1900 to today

8. 7. How have Colorado forests been managed in the last 100 years? • Areas of trees have to compete for resources • Climate varies widely by season and location • Recent climate change effects water availability and forest fires • Natural disturbances and human activities have created large areas of host trees • Host Trees • Similar in size and age • Grouped closely together • a virtual bark beetle “paradise”

9. 7. Influence on Beetle Population… • When trees compete they are more vulnerable to Pine Beetles because of stress • As climate warms, beetle population grows and expands • Large areas of host trees are dying and need to be thinned out

10. Question 7: How have Colorado forests been managed in the last 100 years and how might this influence beetle populations? • Recently, forest managers have used a tree removal strategy which includes cutting down trees in highly used areas, such as campgrounds, and National forest land. Also, they have been safely cutting down areas that are near power lines and communities, to avoid the trees falling on and hurting or destroying man made structures. • Also, as we know, water is essential to the tree producing reason to fight off the beetle. Changes in watershed locations, and rerouting parts of rivers to provide more water for these area of trees near civilization is a change we have been seeing, and will be seeing more of in the future. • Spraying the trees with chemicals to prevent the beetles from attacking those trees has been a commonly used tactic. However, these chemicals are very expensive, and how much do we really know about these chemicals and how they affect other organisms in a ecosystem. • I think that these changes are great to reduce the population of beetles near civilization, but what can we do to help reduce the population in all affected areas. http://csfs.colostate.edu/pdfs/MPB.pdf

11. Work Cited • "Precipitation with Source." Colorado Climate Report 2008. N.p., n.d. Web. <learnmoreaboutclimate.colorado.edu/.../precipitation-with-source.doc>. • "Colorado Climate Report on Temperature." Co Climate Report 2008. N.p., n.d. Web. <learnmoreaboutclimate.colorado.edu/.../temperature-with-source.doc>. • "Colorado State Forest Service." Mountain Pine Beetle. Colorado State University, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://csfs.colostate.edu/pages/mountain-pine-beetle.html>. • "The Free Automatic Bibliography and Citation Maker." EasyBib. Ecoregion, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://easybib.com/>. • http://csfs.colostate.edu/pdfs/mpb.pdf • http://learnmoreaboutclimate.colorado.edu/uploads/model-lessons/mountain-pine-beetles/bark-beetles-brochure.pdf Mehall, T.M., I. Aguayo, and D.A. Leatherman. "Mountain Pine Beetle." TREES AND SHRUBS. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. <http://csfs.colostate.edu/pdfs/MPB.pdf>. • "Bark Beetles: Are Your Trees at Risk?" Bark Beetles. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. <http://csfs.colostate.edu/pdfs/Bark-Beetles-Brochure.pdf>.