The Government of Canada and Government of Alberta have funded a suit of new projects to address the ongoing mountain pine beetle threat to Alberta's forests.
We called for proposals in March 2021 and selected 13 research projects that answer 5 key themes. These projects are now underway and their principal investigators have provided the following short introductions.
Assessment of eastern spread risk of Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) through studies on beetle dispersal and host colonization
Dr. Maya L. Evenden, Dr. Antonia Musso, Leanne Petro
The physiological costs and consequences of overwintering in Mountain Pine Beetle
Dr. Heath MacMillan, Dr. Catherine Cullingham, Dr. Maya Evenden, Dr. Mads Anderson
Modeling Eastern Spread Risk of Mountain Pine Beetle Using Host Genetic Ancestry
Dr. Catherine Cullingham, Dr. Rhiannon Peery, Jessica Duffy
Improving monitoring tools to detect mountain pine beetle at low densities in novel habitats: incorporating host-tree stress and fungal volatiles in beetle attraction
Dr. Nadir Erbilgin
Efficient monitoring of mountain pine beetle outbreak spots using artificial intelligence applied to drone thermal imagery
Dr. Nadir Erbilgin, Dr. Nilanjan Ray, Dr. Gregory McDermind
Development of fine spatial resolution tree species in-
formation for MPB-impacted ecosystems for Species-at-Risk habitat
assessment
Dr. Nicholas Coops, Dr. Laura Finnegan, Cameron McLelland, Chris Bater
Using innovative techniques to understand how mountain pine beetle is shifting ecosystem composition and configuration in Jasper National Park
Dr. Eric Higgs, James Tricker, Dr. Jeanine Rhemtulla
Soil carbon stocks in forests recovering from mountain pine beetle outbreak: a possible C sink?
Dr. Justine Karst, Dr. Oleksandra (Sasha) Hararuk
Whitebark Pine Gene Conservation for the Northern Range in Alberta
Jodie Krakowski
Spatio-temporal variability in post-mountain pine
beetle outbreak fuels in Jasper National Park using terrestrial laser
scanning and bi-temporal, multi-spectral airborne LiDAR
Dr. Laura Chasmer, Dr. Chris Hopkinson, Dr. Patrick James, Dr. Zhouxin Xi
Generation of Tree level Fire Fuel Information across
MPB Infestation Mosaics
Dr. Nicholas Coops, Chris Bater
How do the spatial legacies of mountain pine beetle outbreaks affect fire severity in Canadian lodgepole pine forests?
Dr. Patrick M A James, Dr. Marc-André Parisien, Dr. Chris Stockdale
Assessment of Risk Factors Influencing Landscape Level Fire in MPB Forests
Dr. Christopher Bone, Dr. Khurram, and Steve Taylor
