Abstract
Siberian silkmoth (SSM, Dendrolimus sibiricus Tschetv.) is the most important defoliator of Siberian pine (Pinus sibirica Du Tour) and fir (Abies sibirica Ledeb.) stands. Warming-induced SSM outbreaks are one of the major driving factors of successions within the taiga zone. It is suggested that climate change impacted the SSM range and life cycle. We analyzed the migration of alpine and northerly SSM outbreak boundaries in Siberia and the impact of the climate variables and topography on the outbreak dynamics. We used time-series scenes (multispectral data, and vegetation indexes EVI and NDII) in combination with field studies, climate variables, and GIS techniques. We found that SSM outbreaks in the area of alpine boundary shifted about 370 m uphill since the mid of 1950. The outbreak onset was promoted by increased dryness and active temperatures and decreased root zone moisture content in the spring-early summer period. The terrain topography strongly affected SSM outbreak onset and dynamics. Initially, the outbreak was located at the middle elevations on the gentle concave southeastern slopes, which are the favorable insect habitats between outbreaks. Then the outbreak expanded uphill and downhill, to steeper slopes, and both concave and convex terrains. Alongside with elevation range expansion, SSM surpassed its northern historical outbreak boundary: the potential outbreaks’ boundary moved about 300 km northward. Climate warming contributes to SSM migration into former outbreak free conifer stands located in highlands and at northern latitudes.
Similar content being viewed by others
Change history
08 April 2021
An Erratum to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-021-6674-x
References
Alfaro RI, Campbell EM, Hawkes BC (2010) Historical frequency, intensity and extent of mountain pine beetle disturbance in British Columbia. Mountain Pine Beetle Working Paper 2009-30. Victoria, BC., Canada: Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Pacific Forestry Centre. p 52.
Beguería S, Vicente-Serrano SM, Reig F, et al. (2014) Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) revisited: parameter fitting, evapotranspiration models, kernel weighting, tools, datasets and drought monitoring. International Journal of Climatology 34(10): 3001–3023. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.3887
Bentz BJ, Régnière J, Fettig CJ, et al. (2010) Climate change and bark beetles of the western United States and Canada: direct and indirect effects. Bioscience 60(8): 602–613. https://doi.org/10.1525/bio.2010.60.8.6
Coleman TW, Jones MI, Courtial B, et al. (2014) Impact of the first recorded outbreak of the Douglas-fir tussock moth, Orgyia pseudotsugata, in southern California and the extent of its distribution in the Pacific Southwest region. Forest Ecology and Management 329: 295–305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.06.027
De la Giroday HC, Carroll AL, Aukema BH (2012) Breach of the northern Rocky Mountain geoclimatic barrier: initiation of range expansion by the mountain pine beetle. Journal of Biogeography 39: 1112–1123. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02673.x
Didan K, Huete A (2015) MYD13Q1 MODIS/Aqua Vegetation Indices 16-Day L3 Global 250m SIN Grid. NASA LP DAAC. https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/products/myd13q1v006 (Accessed on 9 January 2020). https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD13Q1.006
Eklundh L, Johansson T, Solberg S (2009) Mapping insect defoliation in Scots pine with MODIS time-series data. Remote Sensing of Environment 113: 1566–1573. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2009.03.008
Gelaro R, McCarty W, Suárez MJ, et al. (2017) The Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2). Journal of Climate 30: 5419–5454. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0758.1
Hardisky M, Klemas V, Smart R (1983) The Influences of Soil Salinity, Growth Form, and Leaf Moisture on the Spectral Reflectance of Spartina Alterniflora Canopies. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 49: 77–83.
Harris I, Jones PD, Osborn TJ, et al. (2014) Updated high - resolution grids of monthly climatic observations - the CRU TS3.10 Dataset. International Journal of Climatology 34(3): 623–642. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.3711
Haynes KJ, Allstadt A, Klimetzek D (2014) Forest defoliator outbreaks under climate change: Effects on the frequency and severity of outbreaks of five pine insect pests. Global Change Biology 20: 2004–2018. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12506
Hexagon (2019) Documentation Portal. ERDAS IMAGINE Help. Region Grow. https://hexagongeospatial.fluidtopics.net/reader/fH0o7KrMKUViXGUeoilQuA/QsacB3KAJQdbHeDr~Je97Q, accessed on 14 January 2020
Huete A, Justice C, van Leeuwen W (1999) MODIS vegetation index (MOD 13) - algorithm theoretical basis document. http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/atbd/atbd_mod14.pdf (Accessed on 24 December 2019)
Kharuk VI, Ranson KJ, Kuz’michev VV, et al. (2003) Landsat-based analysis of insect outbreaks in southern Siberia. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing 29(2): 286–297. https://doi.org/10.5589/m02-094
Kharuk VI, Ranson KJ, Im ST (2009) Siberian silkmoth outbreak pattern analysis based on SPOT VEGETATION data. International Journal of Remote Sensing: 30(9): 2377–2388. https://doi.org/10.1080/01431160802549419
Kharuk VI, Im ST, Oskorbin PA, et al. (2013a) Siberian Pine Decline and Mortality in Southern Siberian Mountains. Forest Ecology and Management 310: 312–320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2013.08.042
Kharuk VI, Ranson KJ, Oskorbin PA, et al. (2013b) Climate induced birch mortality in trans-Baikal lake region, Siberia. Forest Ecology and Management 289: 385–392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2012.10.024
Kharuk VI, Demidko DA, Fedotova EV, et al. (2016) Spatial and temporal dynamics of Siberian silk moth large-scale outbreak in dark-needle coniferous tree stands in Altai. Contemporary Problem of Ecology 9: 711–720. https://doi.org/10.1134/S199542551606007X
Kharuk VI, Antamoskina OA (2017) Impact of silkmoth outbreak on taiga wildfires. Contemporary Problems of Ecology 10: 556–562. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1995425517050055
Kharuk VI, Im ST, Petrov IA (2018a) Warming hiatus and evergreen conifers in Altay-Sayan Region, Siberia. Journal of Mountain Science 15(12): 2579–2589. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-018-5071-6
Kharuk VI, Im, ST, Yagunov MN (2018b) Migration of the Northern Boundary of the Siberian Silk Moth. Contemporary Problems of Ecology 11: 26–34. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1995425518010055
Kharuk VI, Shushpanov AS, Petrov IA, et al. (2019) Fir (Abies sibirica Ledeb.) Mortality in Mountain Forests of the Eastern Sayan Ridge, Siberia. Contemporary Problems of Ecology 12(4): 299–309. https://doi.org/10.1134/S199542551904005X
Koropachinskiy IYu, Vstovskaya TN (2002) Woody plants of the Asian part of Russia. Publishing House of SB RAS, Branch Geo, Novosibirsk, Russia. (In Russian)
Kolb TE, Fettig CJ, Ayres MP, et al. (2016) Observed and anticipated impacts of drought on forests insects and diseases in the United States. Forest Ecology and Management 380: 321–334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2016.04.051
Kondakov YP (1974) Patterns of Siberian silkmoth outbreaks. In: Ecology of forest animal population in Siberia. Nauka. Novosibirsk, Russia. pp 206–264. (In Russian)
Kondakov YP (2002) Siberian silkmoth outbreaks in Krasnoyarskii krai. In: Entomology Researches in Siberia. KF REO. Krasnoyarsk, Russia. pp 25–74. (In Russian)
Millar CI, Stephenson NL (2015) Temperate forest health in an era of emerging megadisturbance. Science 349(6250): 823–826. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa9933
Moore DS, McCabe GP, Craig BA (2017) Introduction to the Practice of Statistics. 9th Edition. New York: WH Freeman. p 814.
Mukul M, Srivastava V, Mukul M (2015) Analysis of the accuracy of Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) height models using International Global Navigation Satellite System Service (IGS) Network. Journal of Earth System Science 124(6): 1343–1357. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-015-0597-2
Overview of Global DEM (2017) Assessment of the current global DEMs and requirements for an updated global DEM. https://insitu.copernicus.eu/library/reports/OverviewofGlobalDEM_i0r7.pdf/at_download/file (Accessed on 9 January 2020)
Pachauri RK, Allen MR, Barros VR, et al. (2014) Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. R. Pachauri and L. Meyer (Eds.). IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland. https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37530/1/IPCC_AR5_SYR_Final.pdf (Accessed on 14 April 2020)
Pureswaran D, Grandpre L, Pare D, et al. (2015) Climate-induced changes in host tree-insect phenology may drive ecological state-shift in boreal forests. Ecology 96(6): 1480–1491. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-2366.1
Rojkov AS (1965) Siberian silkmoth outbreak and pest control. Moskow, Russia: Nauka. p 180. (In Russian)
Seiter S, Kingsolver J (2013) Environmental determinants of population divergence in life-history traits for an invasive species: climate, seasonality and natural enemies. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 26: 1634–1645. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.12159
Spruce JP, Sader S, Ryan RE, et al. (2011) Assessment of MODIS NDVI time series data products for detecting forest defoliation by gypsy moth outbreaks. Remote Sensing of Environment 115: 427–437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2010.09.013
Thompson L, Faske T, Banahene N, et al. (2017) Variation in growth and developmental responses to supraoptimal temperatures near latitudinal range limits of gypsy moth Lymantria dispar (L.), an expanding invasive species. Physiological Entomology 42: 181–190. https://doi.org/10.1111/phen.12190
Townsend PA, Singh A, Foster JR, et al. (2012) A general Landsat model to predict canopy defoliation in broadleaf deciduous forests. Remote Sensing of Environment 119: 255–265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2011.12.023
Weed AS, Ayres MP, Hicke JA (2013) Consequences of climate change for biotic disturbances in North American forests. Ecological Monographs 83: 441–470. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-0160.1
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project nos. 18-45240003 and 18-05-00432.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kharuk, V.I., Im, S.T. & Soldatov, V.V. Siberian silkmoth outbreaks surpassed geoclimatic barrier in Siberian Mountains. J. Mt. Sci. 17, 1891–1900 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-020-5989-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-020-5989-3