The theoretical approach of ecoplexivity focusing mass outbreaks of phytophagous insects and altered forest functions

Anne le Mellec¹*, Jerzy Karg², Jolanta Slowik³, Katrin Möller⁵, Ignaczy Korczynski⁵, Andrzej Mazur⁵, Timo Krummel¹, Zdzislaw Bernacki³, Holger Vogt-Altena¹, Annett Reinhardt¹, and Gerhard Gerold¹

¹University of Göttingen, Landscape Ecology Section, Goldschmidtstr. 5, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany

²Research Centre for Agricultural and Forest Environment, Polish Academy of Sciences, Field Station Turew, Szkolna 4, Pl-4-000 Kościan, Poland

 ³University of Göttingen, Centre for Nature Conservation (CNC), von Sieboldstrasse 2, D-7075 Göttingen, Germany

 ⁴Forest Research Station Eberswalde (LFE), Alfred-Möller-Str. 1, 16225 Eberswalde

⁵Poznan University of Life Sciences, Department of Forest Entomology, Ul. Wojska Polskiego 71c, PL-60-637 Poznan, Poland

*Corresponding author. E-mail: amellec@gwdg.de. Tel.: (+49) 0551-3912134.

Accepted 30 November, 2009

 Abstract

Epidemics of forest insects can have deep impacts on ecosystem functioning and dynamics, with consequences for forest economics and forest carbon feedback to climate change. Despite the many roles that insects fulfil in terrestrial ecosystems, their importance in nutrient cycling is not well known (Lovett and Ruesink, 1995; Kosola et al., 2001). The only instances where herbivores are recognized to have a large effect on ecosystem function are mass outbreaks of particular species like herbivores. However, the climate change induced alterations in precipitation and temperature patterns IPCC (2007) will undoubtedly affect occurrence, intensity, frequency, magnitude and timing of these phenomena and thus provoke an increasing susceptibility of hosts and a significantly larger habitat presence of pests (Dale et al., 2000). Records show that in an increasing number of cases severe outbreaks can even cause the complete devastation of vast areas and thus imply considerable economic losses at a large scale (Ayres and Lombardero, 2000). Down to the present day, it remains uncertain how forest ecosystems will respond to the changing environmental conditions in the long run. This issue reports on the possible alterations of forest functions due to mass outbreaks of phytophagous insects with respect to the changing ecosystem service of C sequestration ability of forests on the northern hemisphere.

Key words: forest disturbances, insect mass outbreaks, forest functioning, carbon sequestration