Quick Facts
Karen Trofka
 Scientific Name: Dendroctonus ponderosae
 Size: 1/8 -1/3 inch
 Native to forests in western North America
 Have one year life cycles
 Woodpeckers are their
 natural predators
Photo taken by Joseph Trofka
 Female tunnels under bark of tree
 Mate
 Form vertical tube, or egg gallery, containing about
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75 eggs
Eggs hatch and larva tunnel away from the egg
gallery
Remain under the bark during the winter
Become pupae June-July
Mid-June to September leave trees as adults
 Periodic out breaks can kill millions of trees
 Current outbreak has killed 1.5 million acres of trees
in Colorado
 Pine beetles attack large and weak or stressed trees
 Mainly affect ponderosa, lodgepole, scotch, and limber
pinetrees
 Affect Bristlecone and
pinyon pines as well
Photo taken by Joseph Trofka
Map from http://snr.unl.edu/invasives/images/mountain%20pine%20beetle%20map.jpg
Tree become yellow or red 10 months
After a successful attack
Pitch tubes are created from the beetles
tunneling
Blue stain the on in inside of the wood is a
fungus from adult beetles that help beetles
kill the tree
All photos taken by Joseph Trofka
 Wood remains structurally sound until five years
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after attack and can be used for building
Used as fuel for pellet stoves
Bio-fuel
Firewood
Biochar
Photo taken by Karen Trofka
 "Can 'biochar' save the planet? " CNN Video. CNN. 30 Mar. 2009. biochar.org.
Web. 29 Mar. 2010.
 Helman, Christopher. "Turning Dead Trees Into Green Heat." Forbes.com. N.p.,
2 Sept. 2009. Web. 12 Mar. 2010.
 Leatherman, D.A., I. Aguayo, and T.M. Mehall. "Mountain Pine Beetle."
Colostate.edu.Colorado State University, Apr. 2007. Web. 12 Mar. 2010.
 Moscou, Jim. "Beetlemania." How the Pine Beetle is Destroying Colorado
Forests. Newsweek, 2008. Web. 27 Apr. 2010.
<http://www.newsweek.com/id/148297/ page/2>.
 Trofka, Joseph. Interview about Mountain Pine Beetles. Private Residence. 28
Mar. 2010. Interview.