Gerardo Cuellar Rodriguez, Enrique Jurado, Marco Aurelio Gonzalez Tagle, Oscar Alberto Aguirre Calderon, Javier Jimenez Perez, Eduardo Javier Treviño Garza, Eduardo Alanis Rodriguez, Marisela Pando Moreno:
Space - Time Analysis of Forests Attacked by Dendroctonus mexicanus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Nuevo Leon, Mexico

GERARDO CUELLAR RODRIGUEZ, ENRIQUE JURADO, MARCO AURELIO GONZALEZ TAGLE, OSCAR ALBERTO AGUIRRE CALDERON, JAVIER JIMENEZ PEREZ, EDUARDO JAVIER TREVIÑO GARZA, EDUARDO ALANIS RODRIGUEZ, MARISELA PANDO MORENO
$^{1}$Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Dept. of Forest Entomology, Mexico
$^{2}$Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, School of Forest Sciences, Mexico
$^{3}$Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Dept. of Silviculture, Mexico

The mexican pine beetle, Dendroctonus mexicanus Hopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), is among the most important agents of ecological disturbance and economic loss in pine forests from South-Eastern United States to Guatemala. It is considered as a polyphagous insect within the Pinus genus.

In recent decades, the Mexican pine beetle increased the infested area of Pinus cembroides Zucc. forests of southern state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. To understand the attack behaviour of this bark beetle we implemented a surveillance system in Aramberri, south of the state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. The monitoring was conducted from October 2008 to October 2012 in 11,693.5ha of P. cembroides forests. The monitoring system included aerial and ground surveillance to detect outbreaks of D. mexicanus spots. Every two years the infested area was quantified as well as the topographical characteristics and the direction of the spreading heads. Between October 2008 and October 2012, D. mexicanus infested 1428.95ha of P. cembroides forests (12% of the forest). The number of hectares damaged was down significantly from the beginning of the experiment in 2008 when there were 438.5ha to the last assessment in 2012 when we found only 74.1ha attacked. Most infestations were presented at the summits and upper parts of the slopes, the spreading heads had a downward movement. The success of bark beetle populations could also be influenced indirectly by the effects of climate on community associates and host-tree vigour, although little information is available to quantify these relationships.

Keywords: Bark beetle, Dendroctonus mexicanus, Pinus cembroides, Scolytinae, spatio-temporal

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Contact Address: Gerardo Cuellar Rodriguez, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Dept. of Forest EntomologyLinares, Mexico, e-mail: entomolabgmail.com