Are wildfires following bark beetles more severe?

Abstract

Bark beetles are responsible for large numbers of dead trees in ponderosa pine forests in the United States. The relationship between tree mortality caused by bark beetles and increasingly severe wildfires has been analysed by Carolyn Sieg and colleagues using a detailed physics-based fire behaviour model. The team seeks to understand if fires that follow beetles are more severe, that is if they leave less green foliage, or if the tiny beetles could have more complex interactions with subsequent wildfires than previously understood.

Citation

Sieg, Carolyn. 2019. Are wildfires following bark beetles more severe? Research Outreach. 107: 90-93.