The beetle ate the forest

For the third year now, the spruce forests of Central Russia and Belarus have been tormented by the beetle. In some areas - for example, in the Moscow region - an outbreak of mass reproduction of the typograph bark beetle has become a real natural disaster. PublicPost figured out where the trouble came from and what we should do about it.

Ekaterina Mozolevskaya, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of the Department of Ecology and Forest Protection, Moscow State University of Forestry:

— First of all, what kind of beetle is this and why “typographer”?

“The typographer’s system of moves is very clearly imprinted on the tree - on the bast and the inner side of the bark. By the way, in addition to this, on the bark of the tree affected by it you can see small inlet or outlet holes, and in the cracks and under the tree - drill flour.

This bark beetle is known as the most dangerous pest of spruce; trees infested with it die within a few weeks. As a rule, mass reproduction of the typograph follows droughts, stormy winds, damage to spruce by rot diseases, especially root sponge, or damage to spruce needles by the nun silkworm.

- But there are a whole lot of different insect pests in the forest?..

There are quite a lot of herbivorous insects and tree pests in the forest, and many of them are capable of outbreaks of mass reproduction, which result in massive damage to the forest - many, but not all.

In healthy, stable forests, where a myriad of different species of insects live, there is no widespread or noticeable damage to the forest; damage is sporadic. They, as a rule, do not lead to weakening and drying out of trees and plantings.

Foci of damage occur only when the forest weakens under the influence of a variety of reasons: severe drought, forest fires, windfall and windfall, technogenic impact, violation of forestry rules, construction... This is especially typical for stem pests, which include bark beetles.

Printers gravitate towards old plantings, damaged areas damaged by wind, places where windfall and windfall accumulate, as well as forests in summer cottages and recreational areas, where spruce plantings are usually weakened.

In general, among the approximately 300 species of bark beetles living in the forests of Russia, only a few are capable of periodic outbreaks of mass reproduction. In pine forests there are large and small pine beetles, in spruce forests there are typograph bark beetles, common engravers, in birch forests there are birch sapwood, etc.

— Why was the printer capable of such massive outbreaks?

Let's look at its life cycle. The summer of typograph beetles and the colonization of trees by them occurs in late April - early May. The development of the offspring - eggs, larvae, pupae, and then young beetles - occurs under the bark in 60-70 days, and new typographs emerge in the second half of July.

If the summer is warm and dry enough, they are able to repopulate the trees and produce a second generation, although only one develops in the cold and wet season. They overwinter in the forest floor around the trees they have used up.

So, the typograph bark beetle is especially dangerous because in warm springs and hot summers it is capable of producing not only two main, but also additional “sister” generations, very quickly increasing its numbers many times over. The high number of bark beetles increases its aggressiveness and danger.

- How can you protect yourself from it?

First of all, protect the forest. Do not disturb the stability of spruce plantations, follow the rules of forest management, carry out sanitary felling and clearing of litter, protect the soil from trampling, and the trees themselves from damage and burns.

But if the outbreak of the typograph has already been discovered - or ideal forest areas for it have been discovered, where the food resource of bark beetles has been increased due to windfall - a whole range of forest protection measures must be carried out. These include clear and selective sanitary felling, windfall and windfall removal. It is better to carry out sanitary felling before the emergence of young beetles, before early-mid July.

Pheromone traps are also used to control the pest. Pheromones are substances that insects use to communicate with each other. Imagine: in the spring, a typograph male colonizes a tree and begins to carve out a mating chamber. At the same time, spruce releases resin and essential oils to protect itself from invasion. At the same time, the beetle produces a specific pheromone, cis-verbenol. It attracts beetles of both sexes from a fairly large distance. To attract a female, another signal pheromone is used, ipsdienol, which is also produced from volatile substances in spruce.

Special traps with substances placed in them that are analogues of the printer’s pheromones are hung at some distance from the spruce tree (and, by the way, they are never hung on a birch tree, because the smell of birch scares away the printer). Massive use of such traps can be quite effective - for example, in 2001-2002. in the Moscow region they made it possible to catch millions of beetles and save hundreds of thousands of spruce trees.

— What is causing the current outbreak, and when will it finally end?

The impetus for this was a sharp increase in the forage base of the typographer after massive windfalls and windbreaks in previous years, as well as spring and summer weather anomalies (for example, the drought of 2010), which weakened the spruce and created favorable conditions for the typographer. The lack of timely sanitary developments in the forest also played a major role.

We approached the summer of 2013 with the outbreak in full swing, and given the current scale of spruce forest drying and the state of forestry, nothing good should be expected. The outbreak will stop only after the destruction of spruce over a very large area."

Olga Guseva, head of the Moscow forest protection department of Roslesozashchita:

“The current outbreak began in 2010 and is associated with a certain set of circumstances that were favorable for printers. It was preceded by hurricane winds, a hot summer with low humidity, and fires that weakened many plantings.

In addition, it so happens that in the Moscow region there are especially many old spruce forests, which are the main food supply for this bark beetle. Several decades ago, felling of overripe forests was stopped here, many such stands accumulated, then windfalls began... All these factors were not eliminated in time, so part of the problem is that for a number of years there was no proper care for the forest.

— What area has the epidemic affected, and is it declining?

Unfortunately, the affected area is information for official use only. As for the decline, this can only be said for sure based on the results of this year. In general, experience shows that in the European part of Russia such outbreaks usually last about four years. 2013 is just the fourth year, and now there is reason to believe that the current outbreak will decline.

However, in any case - even if the outbreak subsides very sharply - new forest lesions will still appear this summer, they will still cover large areas, although smaller than in the past. Well, if the summer turns out to be hot, like in 2010, then the affected area may increase.

— It turns out that almost nothing depends on us here?

On the contrary, a lot depends on us. If we had taken the necessary health measures at the initial stage of the outbreak, it would not have developed so quickly and would not have reached such a huge scale.

And now what was damaged will simply die, and it will take many years to recover. However, the typograph affects almost only spruce trees, and of certain ages. Therefore, it is worth saying that the forest as such will remain alive. And to make restoration faster, dead trees are removed and new ones are planted, and this work is ongoing.

— Who should and does conduct these events?

It should be clarified that all this activity is carried out only on lands belonging to the forest fund of the region. There are military forestry enterprises, city forestry enterprises, and so on - they are not subordinate to us.

The recently established Forestry Committee of the Moscow Region is responsible for specific work in the forest fund, and it works very actively. We at Roslesozashchita only monitor and provide information, including to them: where, how many, what pests have appeared, what is the situation, what is the forecast... Specific work on localizing outbreaks and organizing sanitary and health measures is carried out by a committee and subordinate "Mosoblles" to him.

Andrey Kotov, Deputy General Director for Forest Protection of the State Public Institution of the Moscow Region "Mosoblles":

“The big problem is that the forests of the Moscow region are not exploited as they should be. Initially, these were forests of active exploitation for the harvesting of coniferous wood and had an appropriate structure that requires active use. But after 1977 they decided to protect them, exploitation stopped, and logging stopped - and aging began, creating a large food supply for the typograph bark beetle.

The previous outbreak of the bark beetle was in the late 1990s - early 2000s, its scale was very large, many spruce forests died. But at that time the old structure of forestry was still in operation, forestry enterprises were working, engaged in harvesting and were responsible for the protection and protection of regional forests. Accordingly, sanitary felling was actively carried out, pheromone traps were hung, and so on.

— The mass outbreak of the typograph, as well as the fires of 2010 and other disasters, is often blamed on the new Forest Code adopted in 2006.

This cannot be stated unequivocally. The Code has created a new structure, the Forestry Committee, which is supposed to carry out these actions, but this structure has not yet been fully operational. On the other hand, with the adoption of the Forest Code, ordinary thinnings, which more or less maintained the condition of aging spruce forests, practically disappeared.

Now the tenant is responsible for the condition of the forest, taking the forest for a while to use for his own purposes - for logging or recreation. Upon entering into rights, the tenant must prepare a development project, in accordance with which he acts. And the extent to which they fulfill these duties is monitored by the forest guard and the Forestry Committee. Unfortunately, tenants' liability remains purely nominal under the administrative code. It is often easier for them to admit a violation and pay fines than to pay for the work of monitoring the condition of the forest, care and restoration.

It must be said that in the Moscow region only 3% of the forest fund has been leased. In general, this is a small figure, but tenants are not distributed evenly throughout the region, and in some areas a fairly significant part of the forests is rented - for example, 34 thousand hectares are rented in the Noginsk forestry (with a total forestry area of ​​75 thousand hectares - PublicPost).

— What are the functions of Mosoblles? Do you coordinate your work with Roslesozashchita?

Roslesozashchita conducts environmental monitoring and provides us with its results and a forecast of the situation. We at Mosoblles have our own forest pathology service, which conducts surveys and determines the condition of the forest in specific areas. If Roslesozashchita considers everything more globally, then we, having received their information, are already working targeted, on specific areas of the forest.

Based on the results of these studies, a list of measures, plans and everything necessary for carrying out the work is prepared. These works are put up for competition, and a specific performer is selected. All activities of the committee are financed by the Moscow region, and payment for specific work comes from this budget.

We are expecting a forecast for 2013 from Roslesozashchita in the coming days, at the beginning of June. But we must understand that the outbreak is developing rapidly, and even after receiving this forecast, we will not be able to change anything: plans, financing and everything else are prepared in advance, in the fall of the previous year. Standards do not always keep up with the situation.

The Forestry Committee of the Moscow Region itself was created only on July 1, 2012. While additional equipment and personnel are being completed, the work cannot yet be completed in full. It takes some time to get the committee and its divisions into full operation, but the process is underway, and by next year everything will be up and running.

— Can we at least roughly predict what will happen to the spruce forest by this time?

Now, according to our data, about 40 thousand hectares of spruce forest are affected in the Moscow region, which is about 10% of its total area. However, these are last year’s figures, this year the collection of information is still ongoing, forest pathologists are still working. This year the Typographer's Year began on May 8th and lasted until about the 13th. Now the bulk of the beetles have already attacked the spruce; they have already gnawed through the uterine ducts and laid offspring. We will be able to say as a first approximation how the outbreak will develop in 2013 only in mid-June, when young beetles emerge from the eggs.”

Alexey Maslov, an entomologist who has been working with these bark beetles almost all his life, believes that the outbreak can last from 3 to 6 years. But it all depends on weather conditions - in Belarus, the typograph outbreak lasted 8 years and then, after a year-long break, it resumed. How things will turn out for us will be clear based on the results of this summer.