4B+Pine+Beetle

= __Abiotic factors__ = · Elevation is around 8,000 to 10,000 feet above sea level · 25 to 30 inches of precipitation annually · Very dense forest · Grows rapidly; 81% area increase from 1962 through 1986 · Lusher and more diverse than Ponderosa forest · Temperature- drops 10 degrees Celsius per 1000 meters ascended · MPB's seem to feed off 80 + year old trees that are less than 8 inches thick

= __Biotic Factors__ = · Black Bears · Mule deer · Elk · Mountain Pine Beetle(Mpb) · Bobcats · Mountain Lions · Chickadees · Chickarees · Banana Slug · Quaking aspen · Lodge pole Pine



=__ Importance of Ecosystem __=

= In the far-north latitudes and down to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, just below the treeless tundra, a forest of evergreen trees encircles the earth. This is the boreal forest, and it is the biggest terrestrial ecosystem in the world. It is also largely intact, free of roads and industrial development -- especially in Canada, where more than 1.3 billion pristine acres are found. The global boreal forests are larger than even the Amazon rainforest. Like the Amazon, the boreal forest is of critical importance to all living things. Its trees and peat lands comprise one of the world's largest "carbon reservoirs"; carbon stored in this way is carbon not released into the atmosphere, where it would trap heat and accelerate global warming. Its wetlands filter millions of gallons of water each day. And as a vast and intact forest ecosystem, it still supports a natural food web, complete with large carnivores like bears, wolves and lynx along with thousands of other species of plants, mammals, birds and insects. The boreal forest is also home to hundreds of First Nations communities, many of which rely on fishing, hunting and trapping for their livelihoods. =

=__Threats__ =

= Controlling a mountain pine beetle epidemic can be problematic. Individual trees can be protected by insecticide sprays, but the cost of preventive spraying at a landscape scale is prohibitive. Once a tree is infested, nothing can be done to save the tree. In the long run, silvicultural treatments to provide less dense, more diverse forests may reduce the extent of future epidemics, but epidemics cannot be prevented. One concern about the consequences of the current epidemic is the possible increase in wildfire threats. Little research has been done to assess the change in threats and impacts of wildfires. The limited existing information suggests that tree mortality due to mountain pine beetles may have little effect on the threat or impacts of wildfire in the affected areas, because lodge pole pines (live or dead) naturally burn in extensive crown fires that typically kill most of the large trees. Furthermore, because of the natural regeneration cycle of lodge pole pine and because the beetles do not kill small trees, natural regeneration of the pine forests is likely. Endangered animals whose homes are in the pine trees could become extinct because their home could become dead and die. Also lumber workers getting the trees out would have to make roads right through the ecosystem. Making the animals adapt to new homes. =

=__Conservation Plan__=

=After having learned a ton of different ideas about this fascinating ecosystem, we have decided to first test chemicals on trees bug-ridden with the MPB and see if it kills both the MPB and the trees or just the beetles. If the chemicals do in fact work and rid the Mountain Pine Beetle without killing the trees, we will put these chemicals on all of the heavily populated MPB areas. Secondly, we plan to import woodpeckers from places around the world that already have overpopulated regions thus helping both ecosystems by killing more beetles and removing woodpeckers from overpopulated areas around the globe. =

Citation List Original image: ' [|Fall colors already??] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/25448138@N00/3770977460 by: Drewe Zanki Original image: ' [|Pitch Tube] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/36543076@N00/3253870798 by: Drew Brayshaw Original image: ' [|East of Aspen] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/95504187@N00/3280630884 by: Ben Carlisle Original image: ' [|Pine Beetle Blight] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/95504187@N00/3279812273 by: Ben Carlisle Original image: ' [|Pine Beetle Blight] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/95504187@N00/3279811811 by: Ben Carlisle Original image: ' [|Pine Beetle Blight] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/95504187@N00/3279811441 by: Ben Carlisle Original image: ' [|Pines in the Mountains] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/95504187@N00/3279810003 by: Ben Carlisle Original image: ' [|Valley on the way to Grimface] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/7985543@N03/1434651880 by: Original image: ' [|Pine Beetle] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/37996577538@N01/3692823541 by: Gord Webster Original image: ' [|Dead Red Trees] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/9871297@N08/2895871781 by: Nicholas Kimball Original image: ' [|Frisco] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/32047890@N00/267490995 by: Mike Original image: ' [|untitled] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/22555876@N00/434746049 by: Adam Brock Original image: ' [|Pine tree with beetle damage] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/40302641@N00/379442569 by: Melinda Shelton Original image: ' [|tree update 2/2/10] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/12728721@N02/4326422680 by: Original image: ' [|DSCN0033.JPG] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/12728721@N02/4228327591 by: Original image: ' [|Pine Beetle Damage] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/15593024@N00/494480973 by: Mr. and Mrs. T  Original image: '  [|Dead trees 1] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/34046382@N00/213601636 by: isabelle Original image: ' [|IMG_0638.JPG] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/44514469@N00/255326767 by: Yuri Gadow Original image: ' [|Dead trees 2] ' http://www.flickr.com/photos/34046382@N00/213601590 by: isabelle