Western U.S. Forests At Risk: Complex Dynamics Underlie Bark Beetle Eruptions

Biological interactions involving fungi as well as trees and competing insects drive bark beetle outbreaks. The processes are sensitive to a forest's condition and the local climate, but prediction is difficult because the processes turn on multiple critical thresholds. Nonetheless, human activities are making outbreaks more extensive and frequent. Climate change and biological processes at large and small scales drive outbreaks now killing forests in the American West.

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