Meeting Abstract

P3.138  Thursday, Jan. 6  Thermal and water balance physiology of attacking mountain pine beetles GRAY, EM*; BOWEN, CM; The Colorado College emilie.gray@coloradocollege.edu

In recent years, mountain pine beetles (Dendroctonus ponderosae) have been decimating coniferous forests throughout the northern Rocky Mountains in areas where outbreaks were previously unheard of. Possible reasons for the current epidemic include recent droughts resulting in weakened trees, as well as warmer conditions favorable to beetle survival and multiplication. Adult pine beetles spend the majority of their life within the cambium of their host, which is saturated immediately following the mass invasion but dries within weeks. Despite being under the tree bark, beetles are also exposed to the wide daily and seasonal temperature fluctuations occurring at high altitude. Using pine beetle populations collected from the cambium layer of Lodgepole pines at different elevations and at different stages of infestation in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, we investigated the variation in water balance, metabolic rate and thermotolerance among local populations. These studies are among the first to explore the environmental physiology of mountain pine beetles and aim to increase our understanding of how climate may affect their potential to invade North American forests.