Population dynamics of bark beetles, with special reference to Ips typographus: Introduction

Abstract

During the 1970s the boreal forest in Scandinavia was under heavy attack by the spruce bark beetle Ips typographus L, This was not the first such outbreak in Scandinavia, and there had been a continuous tradition of research into the biology of this and other bark beetle species. After some preliminary research, a trapping program based on the bark beetle's pheromone communication system was launched in 1979. Its initial goal was to reduce beetle populations by removing beetles in large numbers that is, changing their population dynamics. Besides trapping large numbers of beetles, placing strong pheromone sources out in the field also had the effect of changing the spatial distribution of beetles a key determinant of population dynamics.