WSL > Research units > Forest Dynamics

Further URLs

This homepage is also accessible at www.waldinsekten.ch

Visit the dead wood portal at www.totholz.ch

Infestations of woody plants? See "Diagnose online" at www.waldschutz.ch (German and French)

Forest Entomology

Head: Dr. Beat Wermelinger

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Gall of the adelgid Sacchiphantes viridis

Our group Forest Entomology investigates forest insects in their broadest sense: ecology of potential forest pests, natural enemies, diversity of forest insects.

Research topics

Infestation dynamics of bark beetles, effect of natural enemies.
Interactions between host trees and bark beetles
Recolonization of windthrow and wildfire areas by insect communities.
Dependency of dead wood (saproxylic) insects on tree and stand characteristics.

Knowledge transfer

Scientific publications
Teaching at University and non-University levels, supervision of students' theses.
Outreach articles in journals, excursions, courses

Picture database: At the moment, our digital picture database holds more than 11'000 images of insects and spiders of 1500 different species.