In conflict or conformity? The role of forest conservation in bark-beetle outbreak dynamics

The spruce bark beetle is one of the most serious forest pest in Europe.

During the ongoing outbreak in Sweden, the beetle has so far killed  15-18 million m3 spruce forest to a cost of more than 5 billion SEK.

During this and previous outbreaks, intensive debates have been raised regarding removal of infested trees in conservation areas.

Among foresters, there is a strong fear that conservation areas are more infested than the production forest, thus acting as sources of I. typographus and increase infestations in the surroundings, although no research-based studies have confirmed this.

Natural enemies and that bark-beetle killed trees increase deadwood which improve biodiversity, make it even more complex.

We will use new satellite data of bark-beetle killed stands and investigate the impact of conservation areas across different spatial scales and outbreak phases.

In addition, we will test if redlisted and other species of conservation concern will be affected by the outbreak damages.

The aim of the proposal is to: (i) investigate if different types and qualities of conservation areas have higher infestation risks, compared to the production forest, (ii) examine if infestation risks in the production forest are affected by the occurrence of conservation areas in the landscape, (iii) evaluate if or to what extent sanitation cuttings in conservation areas are reducing infestations in the surroundings and, (iv) predict how the amount of new deadwood influence biodiversity.