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Forest Entomology

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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

FURTHER INFORMATION

News

The field season has started!

In March, the insect traps for the Lothar project were installed so that early flying insects could also be detected.

Open master thesis

In this master thesis, we want to investigate how land-use intensification, which is one of the major drivers of ongoing biodiversity loss, affects the functional composition of herbivorous insect communities in forests.

Further Information (PDF)

The larch tortrix is back

Nearly 40 year after the last major outbreak of the larch tortix (Zeiraphera griseana) in the Upper Engadine, large-scale defoliation of larches due to the larvae of the larch tortrix could be observed this year. Beat Wermelinger reported in Swiss television (in German).

Projects

Promotion of forest insect diversity

Recommendations to preserve and promote the biodiversity of forest insects are derived from findings of various WSL projects and international research.

Patterns and processes of biological invasions in freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems

Insects are among the most successful invasive species but there are surprisingly few aquatic insects that invaded freshwater ecosystems. In this collaborative project between WSL and Eawag we are analysing several international datasets to determine why insects are under-represented among aquatic i

BioDyn

Global patterns of community dynamics - how to terrestrial and aquatic systems differ?

Global blue-green richness differences

This project contributes to the Blue Green Biodiversity Research Initiative - an Eawag-WSL collaboration focusing on Biodiversity at the interface of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

HIATE: Testing the generality of biotic homogenization by human impact in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

This project contributes to the Blue Green Biodiversity Research Initiative - an Eawag-WSL collaboration focusing on Biodiversity at the interface of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

RESISTASH: Resistance mechanisms of ash to Ash dieback and the emerald ash borer

Switzerland’s ash trees are currently decimated by an invasive fungal pathogen causing the “Ash dieback” (ADB) disease. In addition, the emerald ash borer (EAB) might reach Switzerland in the near future. The joint project between WSL and IAP aims to establish a nation-wide ash monitoring that informs on the spread of ADB in Switzerland and to identify potential chemical resistance mechanisms against ADB.

Drought & beech: Effects of the 2018 summer drought on beech on the northern side of the Alps

In this project, we investigate causes for the impacts of the extreme summer drought 2018 on the vitality of beech trees in different regions of the Swiss Plateau and Jura.

NOVOMULTI

This project will test novel rapid assessment methods for capturing fine-scale variation in multitrophic interactions within a bird-insect-plant food web.

DEFENDASH

Ash is currently suffering from Ash dieback ADB and a new threat, the Emerald Ash Borer EAB, is spreading towards Central Europe. The project aims at understanding the milti-trophic interactions between different ash genotypes, ADB, EAB and its natural enemies under different climatic conditions.

Nightscapes 2019

Wir untersuchen die relativen Auswirkungen verschiedener spektraler LED-Strassenleuchten und bedarfsorientierter Beleuchtungssysteme auf acht Insekten- und Fledermaus-Artengruppen.

SURVIVASH

Testing tolerant Swiss ash trees against new pests

Biomass-decomposition of Douglas-fir

The influence of the Douglas fir on ecological processes in the forest has not yet been sufficiently studied. The aim of the cooperation project (HAFL, WSL, University of Göttingen) is to create the scientific basis for an evaluation of Douglas fir cultivation with regard to biomass degradation and functional biodiversity.

FORClimateS

The project aims to aggregate and synthesize existing information on different spatial and temporal scales to provide decision-makers with relevant and robust information on short- and long-term risks for forests and forest functions and on adaptation strategies under different climate futures

Ash Dieback in Switzerland

In Europe, the Ash Dieback disease caused by Hymenoscyphus fraxineus has led to high mortality rates of common ash. We analyze how radial growth and wood anatomical parameters influence the disease progression in trees.

Reconnaître les dendro-microhabitats: visite virtuelle immersive d'une forêt

Les dendro-microhabitats sont importants pour la biodiversité en forêt. Ce projet élabore un nouvel outil destiné aux gestionnaires forestiers, afin de les aider à identifier les dendro-microhabitats et connaître leurs rôles écologiques.

ISOWEB

Our objective is to develop a protocol to analyse food webs in deadwood using compound-specific stable isotope analyses. The applicability to track changes in foodwebs between tree species and different management types along deadwood decomposition will be tested using data from a large experiment.

Energy flux through ecological networks

One of the main drivers of the ongoing loss of biodiversity and the provisioning of important ecosystem functions is nutrient enrichment due to increased fertilizer use in agriculture and fossil fuel combustion. In this project we aim to assess energy fluxes through ecological food webs as an independent measure of ecosystem functioning on an island system in lakes in northern Sweden.

Saproxylic beetles in forest reserves

Deadwood is an essential habitat for many organisms. We investigate the saproxylic (deadwood-inhabiting) beetles and fungi in beech forest reserves and comparable managed forests.

FuncNet

We study effects of land-use in grasslands and forests on functional plant-insect networks and consequences for ecosystem processes

Impact of fuel wood piles on saproxylic beetles

In Switzerland, a strong increase in the demand for energy wood is expected for the next decades. This is likely to have a strong influence on saproxylic beetles (dependent on dead wood). On the one hand, fewer old trees and less deadwood will remain and decompose in the forest, which directly limits habitat availability for saproxylics. On the other hand, fuel wood exploitation might have indirect ecological consequences.

Wild fire and insects

In 2003 some 300 ha of forest on the hillside above Leuk burnt down. Along a horizontal gradient from within-forest to the center of the fire area and along an altitudinal gradient from 1200 to 1700 m a.s.l. we investigate the process of colonization by insects and the succession of the taxonomic and functional groups.

Distribution of red wood ants

We investigate the requirements and distribution of red wood ants in Switzerland. On each plot of the Swiss National Forest Inventory presence/absence and size of the nest mounds are recorded.

Bark Beetle Modeling

The most important forest insect in Europe, i.e. the bark beetle Ips typographus, is likely to become even more important with climate change. In this project, we evaluate the driving factors of recent bark beetle infestations by means of statistical modeling and develop bark beetle population and tree susceptibility models for infestation risk analysis.

Dynamics of dead wood and saproxylic insects

Dead wood is a vital prerequisite for a quarter of all organisms living in a forest. The future intensification of forest management will pose a threat to many wood inhabiting (saproxylic) insect species. In forest reserves the formation and decay process of dead wood is quantified and the importance of micro-habitats for saproxylic beetles is investigated.

Windthrow fauna

After the devestating windstorms in 1990 (Vivian) and 1999 (Lothar) investigations were started to monitor the development and succession of the insect fauna on cleared and uncleared windthrow areas, relative to control treatments in the intact forest. Until now, insects have been sampled during 7 (Vivian) and 4 (Lothar) years.

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Publications

Fitzpatrick, B.R.; Baltensweiler, A.; Düggelin, C.; Fraefel, M.; Freitag, A.; Vandegehuchte, M.L.; Wermelinger, B.; Risch, A.C., 2021: The distribution of a group of keystone species is not associated with anthropogenic habitat disturbance. Diversity and Distributions, doi: 10.1111/ddi.13217

Haeler, E.; Bergamini, A.; Blaser, S.; Ginzler, C.; Hindenlang, K.; Keller, C.; Kiebacher, T.; Kormann, U.G.; Scheidegger, C.; Schmidt, R.; Stillhard, J.; Szallies, A.; Pellissier, L.; Lachat, T., 2021: Saproxylic species are linked to the amount and isolation of dead wood across spatial scales in a beech forest. Landscape Ecology, 36: 89-104. doi: 10.1007/s10980-020-01115-4

Wolf, S.; Barmettler, E.; Eisenring, M.; Romeis, J.; Collatz, J., 2021: Host searching and host preference of resident pupal parasitoids of Drosophila suzukii in the invaded regions. Pest Management Science, 77, 1: 243-252. doi: 10.1002/ps.6013

Thorn, S.; Chao, A.; Georgiev, K.B.; Müller, J.; Bässler, C.; Campbell, J.L.; Castro, J.; Chen, Y.; Choi, C.; Cobb, T.P.; Donato, D.C.; Durska, E.; Macdonald, E.; Feldhaar, H.; Fontaine, J.B.; Fornwalt, P.J.; Hernández, R.M.H.; Hutto, R.L.; Koivula, M.; ... Leverkus, A.B., 2020: Estimating retention benchmarks for salvage logging to protect biodiversity. Nature Communications, 11, 1: 4762 (8 pp.). doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18612-4

Wong, M.K.L.; Tsang, T.P.N.; Lewis, O.T.; Guénard, B., 2020: Trait-similarity and trait-hierarchy jointly determine fine-scale spatial associations of resident and invasive ant species. Ecography, doi: 10.1111/ecog.05505

Wermelinger, B., 2020: Der Borkenkäfer - Altes, Neues, Wissenswertes. Newsletter St. Galler Wald, 2020, 3: (7 pp.).

Wermelinger, B., 2020: Ökologische Bedeutung von Borkenkäfern. Newsletter St. Galler Wald, 2020, 3: (6 pp.).

Heinrichs, S.; Schall, P.; Ammer, C.; Fischer, M.; Gossner, M., 2020: Annahmen und Ergebnisse zur Biodiversität im Wirtschaftswald - neues aus der Biodiversitätsforschung. In: Bollmann, K. (eds), 2020: Biodiversität im Schweizer Wald. Forum für Wissen 2020, Birmensdorf. 15-29.

Gossner, M.M.; Müller, J., 2020: Welche Leistungen erbringen grosse Waldschutzgebiete für den Biodiversitätsschutz?. In: Bollmann, K. (eds), 2020: Biodiversität im Schweizer Wald. Forum für Wissen 2020, Birmensdorf. 45-54.

Felipe-Lucia, M.R.; Soliveres, S.; Penone, C.; Fischer, M.; Ammer, C.; Boch, S.; Boeddinghaus, R.S.; Bonkowski, M.; Buscot, F.; Fiore-Donno, A.M.; Frank, K.; Goldmann, K.; Gossner, M.M.; Hölzel, N.; Jochum, M.; Kandeler, E.; Klaus, V.H.; Kleinebecker, T.; Leimer, S.; ... Allan, E., 2020: Land-use intensity alters networks between biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and services. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America PNAS, 117, 45: 28140-28149. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2016210117

Bae, S.; Heidrich, L.; Levick, S.R.; Gossner, M.M.; Seibold, S.; Weisser, W.W.; Magdon, P.; Serebryanyk, A.; Bässler, C.; Schäfer, D.; Schulze, E.; Doerfler, I.; Müller, J.; Jung, K.; Heurich, M.; Fischer, M.; Roth, N.; Schall, P.; Boch, S.; ... Renner, S.C.; Müller, J., 2020: Dispersal ability, trophic position and body size mediate species turnover processes: insights from a multi-taxa and multi-scale approach. Diversity and Distributions, doi: 10.1111/ddi.13204

Peters, R.L.; Miranda, J.C.; Schönbeck, L.; Nievergelt, D.; Fonti, M.V.; Saurer, M.; Stritih, A.; Fonti, P.; Wermelinger, B.; Von Arx, G.; Lehmann, M.M., 2020: Tree physiological monitoring of the 2018 larch budmoth outbreak: preference for leaf recovery and carbon storage over stem wood formation in Larix decidua. Tree Physiology, 40: 1697-1711. doi: 10.1093/treephys/tpaa087

Eisenring, M.; Unsicker, S.B.; Lindroth, R.L., 2020: Spatial, genetic and biotic factors shape within-crown leaf trait variation and herbivore performance in a foundation tree species. Functional Ecology, doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.13699

Ambarlı, D.; Simons, N.K.; Wehner, K.; Kämper, W.; Gossner, M.M.; Nauss, T.; Neff, F.; Seibold, S.; Weisser, W.; Blüthgen, N., 2020: Animal-mediated ecosystem process rates in forests and grasslands are affected by climatic conditions and land-use intensity. Ecosystems, doi: 10.1007/s10021-020-00530-7

Gossner, M.M.; Wohlgemuth, T., 2020: Do we need squirrels everywhere? On the distinction between biodiversity and nature. In: Krumm, F.; Schuck, A.; Rigling, A. (eds), 2020: How to balance forestry and biodiversity conservation. A view across Europe. Birmensdorf, European Forest Institute (EFI); Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL). 133-145.

Doerfler, I.; Cadotte, M.W.; Weisser, W.W.; Müller, J.; Gossner, M.M.; Heibl, C.; Bässler, C.; Thorn, S.; Seibold, S., 2020: Restoration-oriented forest management affects community assembly patterns of deadwood-dependent organisms. Journal of Applied Ecology, 57, 12: 2429-2440. doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.13741

Büntgen, U.; Liebhold, A.; Nievergelt, D.; Wermelinger, B.; Roques, A.; Reinig, F.; Krusic, P.J.; Piermattei, A.; Egli, S.; Cherubini, P.; Esper, J., 2020: Return of the moth: rethinking the effect of climate on insect outbreaks. Oecologia, 192: 543-552. doi: 10.1007/s00442-019-04585-9

Klesse, S.; Von Arx, G.; Gossner, M.M.; Hug, C.; Rigling, A.; Queloz, V., 2020: Amplifying feedback loop between growth and wood anatomical characteristics of Fraxinus excelsior explains size-related susceptibility to ash dieback. Tree Physiology, doi: 10.1093/treephys/tpaa091

Wohlgemuth, T.; Bürgi, M.; Conedera, M.; Rigling, A.; Wermelinger, B.; Gossner, M., 2020: Die Wirkung von natürlichen Störungen auf die Waldbiodiversität. In: Bollmann, K. (eds), 2020: Biodiversität im Schweizer Wald. Forum für Wissen 2020, online. 55-63.

Vogel, S.; Gossner, M.M.; Mergner, U.; Müller, J.; Thorn, S., 2020: Optimizing enrichment of deadwood for biodiversity by varying sun exposure and tree species: an experimental approach. Journal of Applied Ecology, 57, 10: 2075-2085. doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.13648

20 from 343 publications

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Staff