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ViewAttendees 3

Member Symposium

Downed Logs as a Bridge: Connecting Subdisciplines and Geographic Regions with Saproxylic Insects

Bark beetle attack impacts on saproxylic invertebrates

Wednesday, November 8, 2023
3:05 PM - 3:25 PM ET
Location: Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, National Harbor 12
In-Person
Deadwood is increasingly being recognized as important to forest health and the maintenance of biodiversity. Bark beetles are major generators of deadwood in forest ecosystems. Yet how they impact deadwood communities has received little attention. We examined impacts of bark beetle attack on saproxylic invertebrates in Mississippi USA, Arizona USA, and Honduras in two experiments. In the first, Mississippi, bark beetle-attacked deadwood had increased termite abundance but decreased ants after 1 year, but the effect was lost after 2 years. Conversely, bark beetle-attacked deadwood in Honduras had lower ant and beetle abundance initially, but the effect was also lost after 2 years, and Arizona had almost no activity in either year. In the second experiment, simulated bark beetle and root weevil-attack through fungal inoculation resulted in increased termites, collembolans, acari, ants, staphylinids, and pseudoscorpions were more abundant but diptera were less abundant in fungal-inoculated deadwood than control deadwood after ~2.5 years. Together, these results indicate that bark-beetle generated deadwood may support distinct communities from deadwood generated through other processes, which may have consequences for decomposition rates and conservation of biodiversity in forest ecosystems.