Beetles after Wild Fire Traditional Cache

This was a wildfire of unknown origin. The result very different from the prescribed burns nearby in the park, where none of the trees are damaged. After the fire IPS Engraver Beetles infested the stressed trees. Apparently the palms are safe from the beetles.

Like other pine bark beetles, Ips pine engravers live predominantly in the inner bark, where they breed and feed on phloem tissue. Pines successfully colonized by Ips engravers, if not already dead, are killed by adult and larval feeding in the phloem (which can girdle the tree) and by colonization of the sapwood with blue-stain fungi that the beetles introduce.

Ips beetles usually colonize only those trees that are already stressed, declining, or fallen due to other environmental or biotic factors. Ips also readily colonize cut logs and slash, and are attracted to fresh pine odors. Infestations may occur in response to drought, root injury or disease, timber management activities, lightning strikes, or other stresses.

When populations of Ips beetles are sufficiently high, they can overcome the defenses of apparently healthy trees by attacking in large numbers.

The beetles are called engravers because of the long, grooved galleries they excavate in the sapwood. As the female digs her branch off of the male's nuptial chamber, she deposits eggs in individual niches along the walls. When the larva emerges, it digs a tunnel off of its niche. The multibranched engraved galleries that result are often Y-, H-, or I-shaped. Ips galleries are clear and open, unlike those of some other bark beetles, which are filled with wood dust and frass

As native species, these beetles are a natural part of their environment, excavating snags and providing food for insectivores. I. typographus is described as "an essential component of every spruce forest ecosystem" as it digs through dead and dying wood tissue, helping to initiate the process of decomposition. In an abundance of dead and dying trees, after windthrow events, for instance, the beetles take advantage of plentiful food and shelter resources and their populations increase drastically. If the resources then dwindle, the large populations move into stands of healthy trees and become a problematic infestation.

HOSTS: All three southern Ips species can infest any pine species within their range, and occasionally, longleaf pine, pond pine, sand pine, shortleaf pine, slash pine, and spruce pine.

The cache is a small, tied in, camoed pill bottle. Please make sure it’s still tied in when you leave. Some tiny SWAG from a previous incarnation, but not room for much.

It is behind the area that is closed off for the Bald Eagles nesting area. I got there from the Bobcat cache, but came out next to the bridge at the start of the main trail, within sight of the parking lot. You can also get to it by the trail heading south before the covered bench and the Bobcat cache.