Fichtenborkenkäfer

The project "Ways to control the spruce bark beetle" is a three-year project funded by the Province of Bolzano in response to the massive bark beetle infestation in South Tyrol. The consortium is led by the Competence Centre for Plant Health of the Free University of Bolzano with Eurac Research, the University of Padua (Italy), the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (Vienna) and the Forest Service of the Province of Bolzano as project partners. The project aims at (i) studying important aspects of the biology of this beetle in the short term in order to predict population development and to find possible antagonists that can limit its population development, (ii) establishing methods in the medium term to detect infested trees at an early stage and thus minimise population pressure, and (iii) developing strategies in the long term to make South Tyrol's forests fit for climate change and its consequences.

Eurac Research works mainly on objectives ii) and iii) and relies on the collaboration of the Institutes for Earth Observation and Alpine Environment and the Center for Sensing Solutions.

Contact: ruth.sonnnenschein@eurac.edu