Stopping Tree Killers with Their Own Scent

Bark Beetle Infestations Can Be Fought with Pheromones. Due to recent warm winters and drought, the Northwest is suffering through one of the worst bark beetle infestations in the last 20 years, affecting large forested areas of northern Idaho, Montana and Washington. Researchers in the Washington State University Laboratory for Atmospheric Research have been helping the U.S. Forest Service to tackle the beetle problem, helping to deploy artificial pheromone sources to disrupt normal bark beetle behavior.

Because little is known about dispersion patterns of such pheromones in forest canopies, it is difficult to know how to deploy an array of pheromone sources to be most effective. Researchers in the WSU Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, led by Brian Lamb, professor in civil and environmental engineering, have been working with the Forest Service to better understand how pheromones released by bark beetles are transported and dispersed in different types of forests. They have conducted experiments in several states.

For more information, contact Brian Lamb, 509.335.5702, blamb@wsu.edu.