About this event

Global changes, including climate change and economic globalisation, pose serious threats to the health of the world’s forests by favouring the emergence or invasion of an increasing number of forest pests. Wood and bark beetles play a prominent role in this context due to the spatial extent and intensity of their damage. There are numerous examples of massive attacks by these insects on all continents, with long or chronic outbreaks, causing the mortality of a considerable number of trees or forest areas. Their diversity, their capacity for natural or human-assisted dispersal, their frequent association with pathogenic fungi, and their direct effects on the survival of trees make some scolytid species the most serious pests of natural or planted forests. Responding rapidly to rising temperatures or droughts, benefiting from storm or fire damage, they have become one if not the primary cause of disturbance to forest ecosystems, drastically accelerating the expected longer-term effects of climate change.

In view of the scale and recent increase in wood and bark beetle damage, it seems useful and necessary to take stock of the state of scientific knowledge concerning the epidemiology of species and above all, the means of monitoring and managing their populations. Many approaches and methodologies can be applied to the study and control of these insects, which justifies the gathering of knowledge and skills of many IUFRO working groups and task forces. This joint conference aims to provide knowledge and tools for action for forest scientists and practitioners searching for solutions to mitigate the risk of bark beetle attacks.

The conference will be held in Bordeaux, France, where recent heat waves have caused massive outbreaks of the typographer bark beetle, where fires on an unprecedented scale have created the conditions for the emergence of large populations of the stenographer bark beetle, and where reforestation plantations are regularly subjected to repeated attacks by the pine weevil. But these examples are not limited to France and we invite all colleagues around the world to share their findings to better manage the risk of renewed attacks by native or exotic bark beetle species.