ABSTRACT: Mountain pine beetle and hydrology: addressing scale issues with process research in experimental hydrology.

CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Mountain pine beetle (MPB) is a major forest disturbance that has affected large areas of Western North America's forested land base. Hydrologic impacts of MPB are driven by changes to stand scale processes regulating evaporative fluxes, soil/groundwater recharge, and runoff generation. However, while recent studies have provided detailed process knowledge of some of the stand-scale hydrologic impacts of infestation, scaling of stand level insights to the watershed scale remains a formidable challenge. While numerical models are beginning to assess likely watershed-scale impacts, few field-based process studies have been completed at this scale to address these questions. This talk builds on stand-scale process studies of snow-forest interactions in beetle-killed forests in northern British Columbia, and outlines a new research approach at a research basin in southwestern Alberta. This new study will apply the paired catchment approach common in experimental watershed hydrology to assess the impacts of both increasing MPB infestation intensity and associated management interventions on watershed-scale hydrology, and to assess impacts on montane versus alpine/sub-alpine regions of these watersheds.

Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology