Chapter 1 Natural History and Ecologyof Bark Beetles (original) (raw)

Bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) are a highly diverse subfamily of weevils that spend most of their life histories within plants. They occur in all regions of the world, and are associated with most major groups of terrestrial plants, almost all plant parts, and a broad array of invertebrate and microbial symbionts. Bark beetles have served as some of the most prominent model systems for studies of chemical ecology, symbiosis, sexual selection, population dynamics, disturbance ecology, and coevolution. Bark beetles play key roles in the structure of natural plant communities and large-scale biomes. They contribute to nutrient cycling, canopy thinning, gap dynamics, biodiversity, soil structure, hydrology, disturbance regimes, and successional pathways. Several species in particular can genuinely be designated “landscape engineers,” in that they exert stand-replacing cross-scale interactions. In addition to their ecological roles, some bark beetles compete with hu...