Wildlife Monitor: Bark Beetle Survey -- 2017 Season Results

Although bark beetles are very small, they are an important group of insects in White Memorial's forests. Examining bark beetles requires a microscope due to their small body size; average body length is approximately one millimeter. They serve our forest ecosystem by breaking down dead wood into components that supplement the forest soils with nutrients that trees need to grow. They are consumed by many forest songbirds such as warblers and nuthatches. Unfortunately, they are some of the most widely introduced species throughout the world and when they arrive in forests where is nothing that can limit their populations they can change the forest quite dramatically. We conducted a surveillance project for bark beetles during the summer of 2017 at White Memorial. We utilized protocols developed by the University of Florida. We've listed several of the species that we collected below. For more information about bark beetles and how you can do this same project in your own yard or property that interests you please visit the project's website at http://backyardbarkbeetles.org/