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Mountain Pine Beetle Impacts on Carbon Cycling

Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data to monitor the extent and severity of the
MPB outbreak and provide wall-to-wall input data on vegetation structure for
modeling efforts.

In the Southern Rocky Mountains, an epidemic outbreak of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae; MPB) is causing forest mortality on a scale unprecedented in recorded history. The impacts of insect-induced mortality have only recently received attention, although other disturbances such as fires and land-use change have a strong influence on carbon sequestration and can result in a net release of carbon to the atmosphere. Ongoing insect outbreaks in British Columbia and the Rocky Mountains are an order of magnitude greater in area than historic outbreaks, and are approaching the extent of area affected by fire. Recent evidence also suggests that a warming climate has allowed some species to expand their range and contributed to increases in outbreak severity and extent and these trends are likely to continue under predicted climate changes.

This study, initiated in 2009, aims to increase our understanding of MPB outbreaks and their biogeochemical impacts. We are integrating field and remotely sensed monitoring datasets with vegetation and biogeochemical simulation models to assess and quantify how landscape scale patterns of carbon sequestration have and will change.

Principal Investigator: Todd Hawbaker