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Abstract
Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is declining in the central and northern Rocky Mountains from infection by the exotic pathogen Cronartium ribicola, which causes white pine blister rust, and from outbreaks of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae). White pine blister rust has been present in Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks (NP) about two decades longer than in the Greater Yellowstone Area, but both Grand Teton and Yellowstone NP are currently experiencing major outbreaks of mountain pine beetle. McKinney and Tomback (2007) and McKinney and others (2009) demonstrated that as whitebark pine stands are progressively damaged by blister rust or trees are killed, Clark's nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana) make fewer stand visits when seeds are ripe. Our goals were to determine what variables best predict the occurrence of nutcrackers in whitebark pine stands in Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, and Waterton Lakes NP, and to compare the relationship we determine between cone production and nutcracker occurrence to that determined by McKinney and others (2009).
Parent Publication
Keywords
high elevation five-needle pines,
threats,
whitebark,
Pinus albicaulis,
limber,
Pinus flexilis,
southwestern white,
Pinus strobiformis,
foxtail,
Pinus balfouriana,
Great Basin bristlecone,
Pinus longaeva,
Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine,
Pinus aristata
Citation
Barringer, Lauren E.; Tomback, Diana F.; Wunder, Michael B. 2011. The relationship between whitebark pine health, cone production, and nutcracker occurrence across four National Parks. In: Keane, Robert E.; Tomback, Diana F.; Murray, Michael P.; Smith, Cyndi M., eds. The future of high-elevation, five-needle white pines in Western North America: Proceedings of the High Five Symposium. 28-30 June 2010; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-63. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 45-46.
