A positive response of mountain pine beetle to pine forest-clearcut edges at the landscape scale in British Columbia,Canada |
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| Authors: | Huapeng Chen Peter Ott James Wang Tim Ebata |
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| Institution: | 1. British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations, 727 Fisgard Street, Victoria, BC, V8W1N1, Canada
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| Abstract: | In British Columbia, large-scale salvage harvesting has been underway to recover timber value from forest stands infested by mountain pine beetle during the current outbreak. Understanding the response of beetles to clearcut edges particularly at the landscape scale is crucial to understanding the impacts of increased habitat fragmentation due to salvage harvesting on the spread of the beetle infestations. A novel proximity analysis approach based on null models of complete spatial randomness with three different spatial extents was developed to examine the spatial patterns of infestations in relation to cutblocks. Inhomogeneous Poisson point process models were fitted to predict how intensities of infestations varied with distances to the nearest cutblocks. Marked Poisson point process models were also fitted to evaluate the effects of the variables associated with the nearest cutblocks and adjacent infested pine stands on the edge response of beetles. The results clearly illustrated a significant positive edge response of beetles at the landscape scale. The intensities of infestations decreased non-linearly with distances to the nearest cutblocks. The results also suggested that the quality and distribution of key habitat resources could not fully explain the fundamental mechanisms underlying the edge response. The behavioural change of beetle dispersal at edges may also be an important factor contributing to a positive edge response. The results from this study may be useful in improving the efficacy of mountain pine beetle management efforts. |
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