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Mountain Pine Beetle Research Paper

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The mountain pine beetle (MPB; Dendroctonus ponderosae) is a native insect of North America that induces pine tree mortality from bark boring infestation. On average, the MPB lives for one year with four stages of development (egg, larva, pupa and adult). The MPB remains burrowed within a host pine tree throughout all four stages of its life except in the late fall when the mature beetles leave a brood tree in search of a new reproduction site. When a MPB finds an optimal tree for infestation, pheromones are released which attract a swarm of adult beetles. After successfully burrowing into the Pine bark, egg galleries are created for the 75 eggs each female will lay, and these eggs develop into larvae that feed on the host tree's phloem. The MPB can inflict extensive damage to a pine forest when optimum factors of growth are met. The first of three main factors is, an overabundance of mature trees. The MPB will only bore into large diameter trees which are more prevalent since fire suppression has become a primary practice for forest management. Eliminating fires also provides a large quantity of host sites. Tree density is detrimental to forest health because interspecies competition for resources induces stress which makes more pines vulnerable to MPB attack. The final factor that has made the MPB such a …show more content…

According to lake sediment samples, the MPB has inhabited this region for over 12,000 years, but in the last 15 years there has been a recent expanse of MPB infestation. Since 1999, the MPB has integrated into subalpine ecosystems of the Rockies where it has devastated Whitebark pine trees. High elevation forests are not the only new territory the MPB is attacking, in 2012 there was evidence of MPB infestation at the 60th parallel north in the Northwest Territories of Canada for the first

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