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--></style><title>The standard prediction is that beetle kill ->
more fires</title></head><body>
<div><font face="Geneva">Robert A. Andrus, Thomas T. Veblen, Brian J.
Harvey, and Sarah J. Hart<i><b> In press.</b></i> FIRE SEVERITY
UNAFFECTED BY SPRUCE BEETLE OUTBREAK IN SPRUCE-FIR FORESTS IN
SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO.<i> Ecological Applications</i>.<u>
http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/15-1121.1</u></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva">Abstract</font></div>
<div><font
face="Geneva">http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/15-1121.1</font
><br>
<font face="Geneva"></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva">Recent large and severe outbreaks of native
bark beetles have raised concern among the general public and land
managers about potential for amplified fire activity in western North
America. To date, the majority of studies examining bark beetle
outbreaks and subsequent fire severity in the U.S. Rocky Mountains
have focused on outbreaks of mountain pine beetle (MPB, Dendroctonus
ponderosae) in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) forests, but few
studies, particularly field studies, have addressed the effects of the
severity of spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis Kirby) infestation
on subsequent fire severity in subalpine Engelmann spruce (Picea
engelmannii) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) forests. In
Colorado, the annual area infested by spruce beetle outbreaks is
rapidly rising, while MPB outbreaks are subsiding; therefore
understanding this relationship is of growing importance. We collected
extensive field data in subalpine forests in the eastern San Juan
Mountains, southwestern Colorado, to investigate whether a gray-stage
(<5 years from outbreak to time of fire) spruce beetle infestation
affected fire severity. Contrary to the expectation that bark beetle
infestation alters subsequent fire severity, correlation and
multivariate generalized linear regression analysis revealed no
influence of pre-fire spruce beetle severity on nearly all field or
remotely sensed measurements of fire severity. Findings were
consistent across moderate and extreme burning conditions. In
comparison to severity of the pre-fire beetle outbreak, we found that
topography, pre-outbreak basal area, and weather conditions exerted a
stronger effect on fire severity. Our finding that beetle infestation
did not alter fire severity is consistent with previous retrospective
studies examining fire activity following other bark beetle outbreaks
and reiterates the overriding influence of climate that creates
conditions conducive to large, high-severity fires in the subalpine
zone of Colorado. Both bark beetle outbreaks and wildfires have
increased autonomously due to recent climate variability, but this
study does not support the expectation that post-beetle outbreak
forests will alter fire severity, a result that has important
implications for management and policy decisions.</font><font
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<div><font color="#000000">" The increase in interaction
diversity with the beetle outbreak adds to growing evidence<br>
that insect outbreaks can increase components of biodiversity in
forest ecosystems at various<br>
temporal scales."</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Kristina L. Cockle and Kathy Martin.<b>
Temporal dynamics of a commensal network of cavity-nesting
vertebrates: increased diversity during an insect outbreak.</b><i>
Ecology</i>, 96(4), 2015, pp. 1093-1104</font><br>
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