At the 2012 Mountain Pine Beetle Ecology Program workshop, hosted by the Foothills Research Institute, Crisia Tabacaru discusses her research on how beetles react to post-burn lodgepole pine forests. Fire and logging are the two main management options related to stopping the spread of the MPB, with fire being more suitable in some circumstances, therefore it's important to understand how the trees that are not killed during a fire will survive a post-burn MPB attack. The study looks at three long-term sites, with low, moderate and unburned plots. Early results indicate a MPB preference for moderately-burned trees, More field work and analysis is still to come, including looking at why the beetles might prefer this type of tree, and why the number of MPB attacks in the area is decreasing.
Crisia Tabacaru is a PhD candidate at the University of Alberta.
