Recent advances in management of conifer bark beetles with semiochemicals in the western U.S.

Conifer bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae) are important disturbance agents that influence the function, structure and composition of forests. At endemic populations, bark beetles create small gaps in the forest canopy by killing individual trees or small groups of trees stressed by age, drought, defoliation or other factors. This differs from the impacts associated with outbreaks, which may affect many ecosystem goods and services. Most bark beetles use highly evolved chemical communication systems during host finding, host selection, host colonization and mating behaviors. Knowledge of these systems and the semiochemicals involved can be used to exploit bark beetle behaviors. In this presentation, I discuss recent advances in the use of semiochemicals for management of bark beetles, and highlight ongoing research concerning development of semiochemical-based tools to protect trees from colonization by mountain pine beetle, western pine beetle and spruce beetle.