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Erica Jaakkola

Doctoral student

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Spruce bark beetles (Ips typographus) cause up to 700 times higher bark BVOC emission rates compared to healthy Norway spruce (Picea abies)

Author

  • Erica Jaakkola
  • Antje Gärtner
  • Anna Maria Jönsson
  • Karl Ljung
  • Per-ola Olsson
  • Thomas Holst

Summary, in English

Biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions from trees subjected to biotic stress are higher compared to healthy trees, and they may also have a different compound composition. This in turn affects atmospheric chemistry and can lead to either positive or negative feedback to the climate. Climate change favors the abundance of the European spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus) which attacks the bark of Norway spruce (Picea abies) trees, causing induced BVOC emissions from the trees as a response to the insect stress. Here, results are reported from a study analyzing the difference in emission rates between healthy and bark-beetle-infested Norway spruce trees, changes in emission rates over time since the infestation started, and differences in emission rates from bark-beetle-drilled entry and exit holes.

Bark chamber measurements on both healthy and infested trees were performed during the summer of 2019 at Hyltemossa and Norunda research stations in Sweden. The measurements showed that induced BVOC emissions following the bark beetle infestation were dominated by entry hole emissions in the early growing season and exit hole emissions in the later season. The results showed a significant difference in emission rates between healthy and infested trees during both seasons. The seasonal average standardized BVOC emission rate of healthy trees was 32 ± 52 µg m−2 h−1 (mean ± standard deviation), while the average standardized BVOC emission rates of infested trees were 6700 ± 6900 and 2000 ± 1300 µg m−2 h−1 during the early and late season respectively. BVOC emission rates were highest at the start of the infestation and decreased exponentially with time, showing induced emission rates for up to 1 year after which the emission rates were similar to those from healthy bark. Constitutive needle emission rates from healthy trees were found to be 11 times higher than bark emissions from healthy trees. However, when Norway spruce trees were infested, the bark emission rates were instead 6 to 20 times higher than the needle emissions, causing substantial increases in the total tree BVOC emission rate. This could lead to high impacts on atmospheric processes, specifically the formation of secondary organic aerosols, which have a higher yield from some monoterpene compounds, which increased from infested trees.

Department/s

  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
  • MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system
  • Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
  • LU Profile Area: Nature-based future solutions
  • Quaternary Sciences
  • Environmental Science
  • eSSENCE: The e-Science Collaboration
  • Centre for Healthy Indoor Environments
  • LTH Profile Area: Aerosols

Publishing year

2023-02-20

Language

English

Pages

803-826

Publication/Series

Biogeosciences

Volume

20

Issue

4

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Copernicus GmbH

Topic

  • Physical Geography
  • Climate Research

Keywords

  • BVOCs
  • Bark beetle
  • Norway spruce (Picea abies)
  • BVOCs
  • Norway spruce (Picea abies)
  • Bark beetle
  • Forest biogeochemistry
  • Tree stress

Status

Published

Project

  • Stress-induced BVOC emissions from forests in Sweden

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1726-4189