Infectious Disease, Bark Beetles, and Wildland Fire impacts on Southern Sierra White Pines

Abstract

Photo 1: The triple treat for southern Sierra white pines. Left: White pine blister rust aeciospores on whitebark pine. Top right: Mountain pine beetle pitch tubes in sugar pine. Bottom right: Wildland fire. Photo credit: Joan Dudney. Photo 2: We surveyed four different white pine species, all susceptible to impacts from blister rust, MPB, and fire. From upper left, whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis), western white pine (Pinus monticola; lower left), foxtail pine (Pinus balfouriana; center), sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana; right). Photo credit: Joan Dudney. Photo 3: Metal monument maker located at the beginning of the plot (upper left). The beginning of a plot transect (lower left). Example of a journal entry left by Duriscoe’s team (center). Crew assessing a diseased tree (upper right). Crew measuring tree growth, or diameter at breast height (dbh; lower right). Photo credit: Joan Dudney. Photo 4: The crews carried heavy packs and gear through some unanticipated extreme conditions, including dense smoke, lightning storms, flash floods, and steep, cross-country terrain. Photo credit: Joan Dudney. Photo 5: Subalpine white pine forests in the southern Sierra Nevada have much lower levels of MPB, fire, and blister rust compared to lower elevation montane forests. Photo credit: Joan Dudney. These photographs illustrate the article, “Compounding effects of white pine blister rust, mountain pine beetle, and fire threaten four white pine species," by Joan Dudney, Jonathan C. B. Nesmith, Matthew C. Cahill, Jennifer E. Cribbs, Dan M. Duriscoe, Adrian J. Das, Nathan L. Stephenson, and John J. Battles, published in Ecosphere. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3263.