RESPONSES OF BARK BEETLES AND THEIR ASSOCIATES TO A SEVERE WIND DISTURBANCE IN SOUTHERN PINE STANDS

Bark beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytinae) are commonly reported to reach epidemic levels in wind disturbed stands due to increases in resources such as weakened or recently killed trees. Hurricanes are important wind disturbance agents and can cause spatially heterogeneous damage across a forest, which may impact insect population responses to the disturbances. In 2018, Hurricane Michael struck the Florida Panhandle, damaging over 1.2 million hectares of forests. In the growing season following Hurricane Michael, I conducted a study to determine how populations of bark and root-feeding beetles and their predators responded to different severities of hurricane damage [low (≤20%), moderate (21-40%), and high (≥41 %)]. Over 200,000 bark and root-feeding weevils were captured during of this study. Results indicate insect populations were similar among stands with different wind damage severities. This study may inform foresters engaged in post-hurricane management activities such as salvage harvesting to prevent economic losses from insects.