Bark beetle 2006: situation and monitoring

The efforts to stem the mass bark beetle outbreak in Austria did not defuse the situation. In 2006, bark beetle infested over 2.4 million m3 wood. This record level has now been maintained for four years. The consequence of the wind throw from gales 2007 and the climate of the last half year will not reduce the bark beetle situation. Seven Federal Provinces joined the Austrian Bark Beetle Monitoring. The results from 170 pheromone traps were presented on the bark beetle homepage of the BFW (www.borkenkaefer.at). In 2006, the flight activities in the Federal Provinces and over the various altitudes were almost uniform. In the case of Ips typographus, the flight period started between the beginning and middle of April and reached the maximum in mid-June. In comparing altitude classes, the flight period started later and lasted shorter in case of increasing altitudes. The wind throw from 2002 caused the heaviest damages in the Federal Provinces Salzburg and Styria. In 2006, the amount of bark beetle infested wood showed a different trend in these Federal Provinces. Therefore, the trap results were compared in order to see, if this trend is reflected in the monitoring data.