Site, Stand, and Host Characteristics of Southern Pine Beetle Infestations

Jack E. Coster and Janet L. Searcy - editors

Southern Pine Beetle Handbook U.S.D.A. Combined Forest Pest Research and Development Program Technical Bulletin No. 1612

In 1974 the U.S. Department of Agriculture initiated the Combined Forest Pest Research and Development Program, an interagency effort that concentrated on the Douglas-fir tussock moth in the West, on the gypsy moth in the Northeast, and on the southern pine beetle in the South. The work reported in this publication was funded in whole or in part by the Program. This technical bulletin is one in a series on the southern pine beetle.

Introduction

The southern pine beetle (SPB) Dendroctonus frontalis Zimm., is a pest throughout the pine region of the southern United States. Following major outbreaks of the beetle in the early 1970's, the USDA launched a comprehensive research effort against the pest-the Expanded Southern Pine Beetle Research and Applications Program (ESPBRAP). One of the Program's principal objectives is to identify site, stand, and host conditions that are associated with SPB infestations. This information will serve as the basis for developing ways to rank susceptibility of stands to SPB attack. It will also provide clues for developing silvicultural recommendations to reduce beetle damage.

Seven different projects, sponsored by six agencies and covering seven States, cooperated under a coordinated regional proposal to collect a standard site/stand data set at each measurement plot. Geographical replication of the studies was considered essential since different factors were thought to predispose trees and stands to attack in different regions. Investigators involved in the Coordinated Regional Project were:

• R.P. Belanger and G.E. Hatchell. Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, Athens, Ga.
• R.R. Hicks, J., K.G. Watterston, J.E. COster, and J.E. Howard. School of Forestry, Stephen F. Austin State University, nacogdoches, Tex.
• T.T. Ku, J.M. Sweeney, and V.B. Shelburne. Department of Forestry, University of Arkansas, Monticello, Ark.
• R.J. Kushmaul, M.D. Cain, and W.F. Mann. Southern Forest Experiment Station, Pineville, La.
• T.E. Maki, D.W. Hazel, and J.R. Hall. Department of Forestry, North Carolina University, Raleigh, N.C.
• R.L. Porterfield and C.E. Rowell. Department of Forestry, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Miss.
• J.M. Skelly, S.A. Alexander, and R.S. Webb . Department of Plant Pathology and Physiology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.

This report presents the methodology and basic results from the Southwide projects. These results, from over 3,300 plots, should be valuable to future research on beetle-environment relationships and on basic silviculture, and to pest control specialists and forest managers as well. Hazard- or risk- rating models developed using the data reported here will be published elsewhere.

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