Speaker
Description
Insect outbreaks significantly affect forest composition, carbon and nutrient cycling, and water and energy fluxes. Functional diversity within forest communities may mitigate insect disturbance impacts by reducing host tree dominance and constraining insect population growth.
To investigate biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships under insect pressure, we conducted a series of site-level simulations using the terrestrial biosphere model QUINCY (QUantifying Interactions between terrestrial Nutrient CYcles and the climate system), enhanced with a new insect impact module. This module explicitly represents defoliator feeding on broadleaf trees and bark beetle-induced mortality in needleleaf trees, while accounting for disturbance-driven changes in carbon pools (e.g., snags, frass), nutrient leaching, and compensatory regrowth.
We introduced a simplified insect severity model based on cold survival, temperature-driven phenology, host availability, and predator suppression. Forest diversity was represented by combining pure and mixed PFT (plant functional type) simulations with controlled dispersal capacity.
Our results show that increased tree functional diversity buffers forest ecosystems against insect outbreaks by reducing host accessibility and slowing carbon loss. This framework provides a tractable process-based approach to explore how biotic interactions, especially those between insect and forest diversity, shape forest resilience and long-term carbon dynamics.
| Status Group | Postdoctoral Researcher |
|---|---|
| Poster Presentation Option | Undecided/No preference |
