Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Note: This annual meeting was held via Adobe Connect conference; it was hosted by Oregon State University. Welcome and Introductions (Chair Ken Raffa) Secretary Bill Jacobi (Chair for 2012)

• The committee elected Dave Shaw for Secretary in 2012 and Chair in 2013.
• The group voted to meet at the Western Forest Insect Work Conference at Penticton, BC, March 26-29, 2012. Discussion about the future of the group will be an agenda item for the meeting in 2012.

Administrative Advisor, Stella Coakley Reported the following.

• Oct 2009 W-2187 was set up for 5 yr project
• Oct 2012 we will need a 3 yr review
• Oct 2013- we will need a proposal for submission in January of 2014 to continue.
• Oct 1 of each year the annual report is due
• We need impact statements for each year and for the 3 yr review
• This year it would be good to talk about media coverage of MPB and EAB.

USDA Rick Meyer reported the following:

• Budgets are being cut and programs eliminated
• Roger Beachy retired.
• Rick Meyer is himself is retiring this year. The members all responded on how they appreciated his support and interest in the group over the past many years.
• We will need to find out who our new advisor will be.
• The AFRI program was not announced yet but should by August but all programs were cut.
• The best chance of funding in forestry would be under climate change.

State Reports were given by the attendees. See annual report for details.

Objective 1. Characterize the role of biotic and abiotic factors in predisposing trees to bark beetle attack and subsequent mortality. We felled and intensively examined more than 240 oak trees from a variety of stands in the Ozark National Forest and Ouachita National Forest. We investigated adult red oak borer emergence, flight behavior, host tree selection, and how these factors influence borer and tree mortality. We examined how trees respond to infestation and investigated the relationship of forest site, stand and tree conditions to the distribution and abundance of the red oak borer outbreak. We developed a series of sampling techniques, specifically designed to estimate beetle densities within trees, within forest stands and across entire forests. We extended our sampling to historical analysis of red oak borer populations over the past 70 years using current methods of tree ring analysis. We initiated remote sensing and GIS-based studies to visually define susceptible forests and forest conditions associated with increased red oak borer populations and tree mortality. We developed molecular methods to survey for Armillaria, a root rot fungi thought to be another potential contributor to oak mortality in the Ozark Mountains, and determined that three species of this root pathogen are present in the Ozarks, the first confirmation of this fact. We remain uncertain if this is significant in relation to tree mortality and the red oak borer outbreak. We completed a survey of aspen in Colorado national forests and will be analyzing data to determine if aspen bark beetle occurrence is related to any site, stand or disease situation. Aspen bark beetles were more common in low elevation stands than high elevations, and east of the continental divide than west, and on summits than valley bottoms which suggests the beetles are more common in drier sites. We have started a survey of limber pine in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana that will provide data to determine the relationships among mortality agents of mountain pine beetle, white pine blister rust and site and stand conditions. We are collaborating with USFS PNW Research Station scientists, Rick Meinzer and David Woodruff on a project that seeks to determine the role of non-structural carbon in tree mortality. This is a fundamental question regarding how trees die. Although this project is not directly related to bark beetle caused mortality, the role of non-structural carbon in tree physiology and mortality has emerged as a key question among ecophysiologists. We examined the inducible defense response in ponderosa pine using repeated mechanical wounding with and without fungal inoculations with two different bark beetle-associated fungi (Ophiostoma minus and Grosmannia clavigera) and found that resin flow did not significantly increase in response to any treatment and necrotic lesion formation after fungal inoculation was minimal. Stand thinning, which has been shown to increase water availability, had no, or inconsistent results, on inducible tree defense. Characteristics of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) chosen for attack by roundheaded pine beetle (Dendroctonus adjunctus) were studied in a current outbreak in northern Arizona. We found significant differences in basal area increment, crown width, lengths of internodes, subbranches, and needles, phloem thickness, and resin composition between attacked and unattacked trees. Attacked trees had significantly lower basal area increment and internode and needle lengths but longer subbranch lengths at the top of the crown and longer crown widths. Attacked trees also had thicker phloem and contained a significantly higher percentage of ±-pinene in resin, but a lower percentage of longifolene than unattacked trees. A baited tree experiment showed that attacks by the beetle did not affect resin composition through time Our research has confirmed that certain phloem phenolics can be used as biomarkers to predict coast live oak resistance to Phytophthora ramorum, the causal agent of SOD. In a common garden experiment with small ash trees we have determined that topical treatment of ash tree trunks with a MeJA solution induces host resistance to the emerald ash borer. We are testing effects of wildfire on susceptibility of lodgepole and ponderosa pines to mountain pine beetles. Fire injury reduces the ability of lodgepole pine to mount induced defenses. Moderately injured trees may be most susceptible, but brood production in fire-injured trees is not necessarily high, largely due to interspecific competition and reduced substrate quality. We are comparing the resistance mechanisms and susceptibility of whitebark and lodgepole pines to mountain pine beetle. Phenolic compounds isolated from coast live oak phloem, including ellagic acid, a tyrosol glycoside, and total soluble phenolics, may influence the response of trees to infection by Phytophthora ramorum, the introduced pathogen that is the causal agent of Sudden Oak Death. Objective 2: Characterize the diversity and interactions among tree hosts, bark beetles, their natural enemies and associated fungi. Several studies are comparing the defense chemistry of lodgepole versus whitebark pine, and other parameters of tree defense and mountain pine beetle colonization. A model describing temperature-dependent growth of the fungal associates of mountain pine beetle is being developed and will be coupled with a mountain pine beetle phenology model. Several studies are examining bark beetle attack and reproduction in fire-injured pines. Reproductive isolation patterns among mountain pine beetle populations and incipient speciation is being studied. Physiological determinants of diapause in spruce beetle and mountain pine beetle are being investigated A new graduate student has started a project to determine fungal associates of mountain pine beetle and related mites along an elevational gradient and host types in Colorado. We are continuing a project that is determining the relationships of multiple hosts of mountain pine beetle and what hosts are selected by beetles emerging from each host and the epidemic system in the ponderosa and lodgepole pine interface habitat. We tested the hypothesis that the monoterpene composition of oleoresins of ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa, mediates rates of host acceptance, oviposition behavior, and fecundity of the western pine beetle, Dendroctonus brevicomis. We found that host chemotype and insect chemical history did not affect rates of acceptance of host material by female beetles. Insect chemical history affected egg gallery construction, and beetles constructed egg galleries that were longer when reared in host material that was chemically similar to their natal host material. However, mean oviposition gallery lengths did not differ between host chemotypes. Insect chemical history influenced fecundity: F1 beetles produced more offspring on average when reared in host material that was chemically similar to their natal host. We tested the effects of temperature in the southern pine beetle community by manipulating intact communities within naturally infested sections of pine trees. There were strong indirect effects of temperature via alteration of species interactions that could not have been predicted based on autecological temperature responses. Temperature altered the relative abundance of mycangial fungi in adult progeny. Percentage of beetles with Entomocorticium declined with increasing temperature. This was compensated by an increase in C. ranaculosus (in slash pine), while the proportion of beetles without mycangial fungi increased (in loblolly pine). Temperature affected phoretic mite abundance but patterns varied among genera of mites. We studied the reciprocal effects between the bark beetle associated yeast, Ogataea pini, and phytochemicals present in tree tissues (Pinus ponderosa). We tested six monoterpenes on O. pini biomass growth in vitro and found that most monoterpenes inhibited O. pini growth; however mean O. pini biomass increased when treated with myrcene or terpinolene, relative to control. Monoterpene concentrations declined in phloem over time, but phloem colonized by O. pini had significantly different concentrations of monoterpenes at two periods than phloem with no yeast. After 7 d, when O. pini was present, concentrations of ?-3-carene was lower than uncolonized phloem and concentrations of terpinolene were higher than uncolonized phloem. After 15 d phloem colonized by O. pini had higher concentrations of ±-pinene than uncolonized phloem. Volatiles produced by O. pini significantly enhanced the growth of the mutualistic Entomocorticium and inhibited growth of the entomopathogenic fungus B. bassiana. GC/MS revealed that O. pini produced ethanol, carbon disulfide (CS(2)), and ?-3-carene. We are comparing bacterial associates of mountain pine beetle in lodgepole, jack, and lodgepole-hybrid pines, and the abilities of these bacteria to detoxify conifer monoterpenes and diterpene acids. Some bacteria can grow with terpenes as their sole Carbon source. The ability of bacteria to tolerate terpenes is higher among those isolated from D. valens than those isolated from D. ponderosae. Bacterial associates of Sirex noctilio have been characterized. Some of these exhibit very strong celluloytic activity. We are studying the effects of interactions between below-ground (Hylobius root weevils and associated Leptographium fungi) and above-ground processes (Ips bark beetles and associated Ophiostoma fungi) on black-legged tick populations in Wisconsin. We are studying mechanisms of host finding by native and introduced parasitic wasps attacking native and invasive Agrilus species. Ambrosia and bark beetles that attack coast live oaks infected by P. ramorum were shown to introduce a variety of filamentous fungi, including potential pathogens, deep into sapwood, likely accelerating tree mortality. Objective 3: Integrate and apply the knowledge gained from objectives 1 and 2 to forest ecosystems as influenced by emerging issues such as invasive species, global climate change, changing land use patterns and multiple and conflicting societal demands Mountain pine beetle life cycle timing and associated phloem temperatures are being monitored at multiple sites in several western US states to develop a baseline database for future climate changes and to evaluate models that are being developed. Transcriptomes are being used to analyze signatures of selection across latitudinal gradients where mountain pine beetle populations are currently found. We and cooperating scientists are in year two of a three year project entitled: Temporal dynamics of ground, surface, ladder, and crown fuels and their potential effects on fire behavior, following Dendroctonus ponderosae epidemics in the Pinus contorta zone of south-central Oregon. We released two larval parasites and one egg parasite of Emerald ash Borer in Wisconsin. These are host-specific. Prior releases were conducted in nine other states The effects of Sudden Oak Death on forest composition and structure at the urban-wildland interface is being evaluated in the East Bay Regional Park District, in the San Francisco Bay area. Monterey pine regeneration, which is negatively affected by pitch canker, caused by Fusarium circinatum, appears to be limited by competition, light and water. Among these factors, competition with understory vegetation appears to be the most important.

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