1. Jodi Axelson Dept Geography, University of Victoria
Ecological impacts of the Mountain Pine Beetle on the Foothills of Alberta
René Alfaro, Brad Hawkes, Lara vanAkker and Bill Riel Pacific Forestry Centre, Victoria, BC, Canada
Jodi Axelson Dept Geography, University of Victoria
Ian Cameron Azura Informetrics

2. Contents Introduction Disturbances: drivers of ecosystem change
Need for establishing baselines
Need for forecasting growth and yield and flow of ecosystem services following MPB
Work in the BC and Alberta
Forest transformation by MPB actual and stand simulations
Knowledge gaps and opportunities
Conclusions

3. Ecology of lodgepole pine: a fire regenerated species

4. Life after fire

5. The mountain pine beetle Forest management, climate change
Fire suppression and selective harvesting for species other than pine during previous century, created large forests of pine
Beetle survival has improved over much of western Canada during recent decades due to global warming, allowing populations to invade areas formerly unsuitable for MPB

6. Probable range of the MPB
A very plastic insect= High potential for invasion
US Distribution from McCambridge and Trostle 1970
Canada Distribution: from Alberta and BC sources

7. Largest pine beetle outbreaks in BC and Alberta in recent history
Aerial surveys begin
History of beetle outbreaks in BC

8. BC Montana Border 31 years later
Ecological and timber impacts
1980
1985
2011
BC Montana Border 31 years later

9. The Cariboo-Chilcotin Plateau plots Established 1987, remeasured in 2001 and 2008
3 biogeoclimatic zones
Mixed-severity fire regime
Stands dominated by Pl

10. East Slopes sites
New range
Historic range

11. 20 Years after MPB in Waterton National Park
Thank you to organizers and Cyndi Smith from Waterton Lakes NP for asking me to speak at this public science forum. As part of a larger project in BC looking at how lodgepole pine stands change after a MPB outbreak, 25 MPB impact plots, established by Ben Moody from our CFS Alberta research centre in Edmonton in the early 80s, were re-measured in 2003, 20 years later. A big thanks to Rob Watt, Park Warden, Waterton Lakes NP who assisted Ben and his crew with those early plots and decided to make copies of the field data forms. This copied forms turned out to be the only complete set of them that existed in Also thanks to Leo Unger, a FIDS ranger with us in Victoria that discovered these plots existed and recommended we try to find them. Also for Rob taking landscape photos during the outbreak and then again in Mountain pine beetle is a natural part of the forest ecology of Waterton Lakes NP.
This short presentation is about how the forest have changed over those 20 years.

12. Waterton Lakes NP, Red Rock Canyon – 1982 and 2008

13. Methodology: Establishing beetle disturbance baselines
Past distribution of MPB outbreaks and return interval
Understanding impacts. Timber and ecosystem
Dating regen. cohorts
Dating coarse woody debris
Dating canopy layers

14. Disturbance history in “even” and uneven aged stands

15. Results: Stand development after beetle
MPB is a natural thinning agent
Promotes increased growth among the surviving trees
Allows for the establishment of seedlings in understory
Creates coarse woody debris

16. History of the canopy layers of an “even-aged” lp stand Logan Lake, Kamloops
Axelson J., Alfaro, R., and Hawkes, B

17. Beetle and stand dynamics: Bull Mtn
Beetle and stand dynamics: Bull Mtn. Study Heath and Alfaro 1990 (re-surveyed in 2001)
Overstory
Understory
Tree ring widths (mm)

18. Chilcotin: Growth release after 1970-80’s outbreak

19. Beetle history of in BC and Alberta

20. Bull Mountain 2001: Douglas-fir
A 320 year old tree: outbreaks every 52 years (40 years for entire BC)
Douglas-fir
This diagram shows the lodgepole pine fire cycle . It illustrates the complexities of the many interrelationships involved. The two large arrows illustrate that seedling establishment and subsequent development of stand density, age structure, and composition depend, in part, on the type of fire that last occurred and the previous stand characteristics at the time of burning. The red highlighted areas illustrate that fire can influence seedling and stand development but the reverse also happens. An example would be a wildfire burning a mature lodgepole pine stand versus a very young stand. The result may be a dense pine stand with a lot of potential course woody debris from the fire-created snags or an open lodgepole pine stand with little or no coarse woody debris. During stand growth and development, the fuel and related fire potential undergo change, depending largely upon natural mortality and stage of succession. Other non-living and living agents can interact with fire disturbance such as windthrow, diseases such as root and stem rot, canker rusts, bark beetles (orange), insect defoliators, and mistletoe. Understanding the interactions of fire, beetles, and other agents is still somewhat limited and requires more study. We do know some of the effects of bark beetles and wildfire on forest succession but more study is needed.

21. Beetle creates advance regeneration

22. Beetle and stand dynamics
From simple post-fire stand structure…
To multiple cohort structure

23. Beetle creates coarse woody debris
CWD from the 1970’s-80’s outbreak

24. Beetle creates coarse woody debris
CWD from the 1930’s outbreak

25. Fire interactions Chilcotin
Fire control implemented

26. Brad plays with fire

27. Resiliency of the Chilcotin Forest after two outbreaks

28. Resiliency of the Chilcotin Forest after two outbreaks
Live pine in 2008 after 1970’s and 2000’s outbreak
Density (stems/ha)
Volume (m3/ha)
Layer
Mean SE
Overstory
(>7.0cm DBH)
413 84
27.9
5.3
Understory
(<7.0cm DBH, taller than 1.5m)
1035
168
Regeneration (shorter than 1.5m)
4709
1429
Total
6157

29. 3 cohorts
Initial conditions 2008
AC3R3T125

30. 2033
AC3R3T150

31. 2041 (immediately prior to light outbreak)
AC3R3T158PRE

32. 2041 Light outbreak removes 30 % BA
AC3R3T158

33. 2058 New cohort is born
AC3R3T175

34. 2074 (immediately prior to outbreak)
AC3R3T191PRE

35. 2074 Massive outbreak kills 70% BA
AC3R3T191

36. 2083
AC3R3T200

37. 2108 New cohort is born
AC3R3T225

38. Results: Waterton National Park
Pine is mostly down
Forest dominated by shade tolerant

39. History of beetle at Waterton
Outbreaks
1920’-1930’s
1970’6-1980’s

40. Overstorey
Saplings
Regeneration

41. Results: Waterton Marked decline in lodgepole pine density
Increase in non-host species such as spruce and fir from 1981 to 2010
With the exception of stand 1, sapling and seedling densities have increased in all stands from 2002 to 2010
High degree of variability in stocking between stands
Composition made up almost entirely of shade tolerant species

42. Conclusion: Stand dynamics cycle in BC

43. Historic habitat
New habitat

44. Resiliency or Panarchy 101 Gunderson and Holling 2002
Conclusion
Resiliency or Panarchy 101 Gunderson and Holling 2002

45. Resiliency

46. Resiliency

47. Resiliency 47

48. Transition to other ecosystems
E.G. Transition to grassland
E.G. Transition to Douglas-fir 48

49. Conclusions Stand-replacing fires initiate even-aged lp stands
Reduced fire in 20th century: MPB directs stand dynamics
MPB transform stands into multiple age cohort forests, initiated by repeated beetle thinning.
Or transition to other stand types
Long term impacts: alleviated by the presence of a sub-canopy, and advance regeneration layers which will form reasonably well stocked forests in the future.

50. Impacts on timber and ecosystem services
Timber production is heavily impacted
Ecological impacts or ecosystem services:
If disturbance is part of cycle, business as usual
In novel habitats: transition to different ecosystems
Caveat: climate change will alter natural disturbance regimes.

52. Dendroctonus ponderosanegger
“I’ll be back”
Dendroctonus ponderosanegger

53. Questions?