Response of bark beetles, root weevils and woodborers to hurricane damage, logging and fire in longleaf pine savanna

Sunday, November 13, 2022

3:06 PM – 3:18 PM PT

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 301

Presenting Author(s)

Kier D. Klepzig

Director/ Research Entomologist
Jones Center at Ichauway
Newton, Georgia

Co-Author(s)

CB

Crystal J. Bishop

Student
Jones Center at Ichauway
Athens, Georgia
BG

Benjamin Gochnour

University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia
cM

chelsea Miller

University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia
Thomas N. Sheehan

Research Associate II
Jones Center at Ichauway
Newton, Georgia
CV

Caterina Villari

University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia
KG

Kamal Gandhi

University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia

The Jones Center at Ichauway is a privately funded conservation property and ecological research center in southwest Georgia, USA. The land is home to incredible biological diversity, pristine longleaf pine savannahs, isolated wetlands and miles of a creek and river. In 2018 this 12,000 ha site was heavily impacted by Hurricane Michael. Concerns immediately arose about potential impacts from bark beetles, root weevils and beetles, and woodborers – all insects known to be attracted to stressed trees. We initiated studies on above and belowground responses to the wind damage as well as to salvage logging and prescribed burn activities post-storm. Root and lower stem infesting beetles increased dramatically in the year of the management activities, especially in burned and salvaged plots but equilibrated by the following Spring. Pathogenic root fungi vectored by these insects did not differ by treatment, but were identified to be a species not usually associated with longleaf pine. Bark beetle responses were immediate and immense. We are still sorting through the hundreds of thousands of beetles to determine the degree to which these responses differed by treatment type. In parallel work we are quantifying the response of these aboveground beetles to simulated lightning strike. As extreme weather events increase in severity these tree insect interactions may likewise have greater impacts.