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Insects, Diseases and Abiotic Disorders in Southwest Forests and Woodlands

Revised; Originally published: 2006 / 5 pp. / Recent events in the forests of the Southwest, and across western North America, have prompted scientists to consider the role of climate variability in insect and disease cycles. Studies focusing on Arizona and other southwestern states point to multiple, interacting climate-related mechanisms that increase the propensity for forest mortality. Effects of insects on forests are complex, and species and site dependent. Many influences, such as drought, decreased precipitation, increased temperature, increased vapor pressure deficit, and increased stand density, combined in nonlinear and overlapping ways to create the recent and devastating pine bark beetle outbreaks in Arizona forests. Climate clearly plays a role in many, but not all, Southwest insect cycles. It is important that educators demonstrate the complexity of all of the interplaying issues, in order to communicate no false impressions of an “easy” or “one-size- fits-all” solution” for land managers.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/583201
Date11 1900
CreatorsDeGomez, Tom, Garfin, Gregg
PublisherCollege of Agriculture, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ)
Source SetsUniversity of Arizona
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext, Book
SourceCALS Publications Archive. The University of Arizona.
RelationUniversity of Arizona Cooperative Extension Service and Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin AZ1418-2015

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