Bark beetles are a principal source of tree mortality in conifer forests, with beetle distribution and beetle-associated tree mortality increasing in frequency and extent. While bark beetles are associated with large-scale outbreaks that affect landscape structure, function, and wood quality, they are also drivers of important ecological processes that modify forest ecosystems. Bark beetle activity may affect biogeochemistry and forest decomposition processes by mediating microbial and detrital communities and by facilitating the turnover of deadwood. The turnover of deadwood in bark beetle-attacked forests has important implications for forest biogeochemical cycling, as dead wood releases CO₂ into the atmosphere and carbon, nitrogen, and other nutrients into surrounding soils. However, our understanding of how initial physical, chemical, and biotic changes to bark beetle-attacked trees affect the succession of detrital organisms and decomposition of beetle-generated deadwood remains poor. Furthermore, the relationship between woody decomposition and landscape-level changes in biogeochemical processes in forest ecosystems following bark beetle activity is not well unified. This review article bridges this divide and provides an interdisciplinary perspective on tree mortality, ecological succession, and woody decomposition mediated by bark beetles.

The United States has a rich fauna of native Siricidae (wood wasps), but they are rarely studied because they have limited economic impact. In 2004, a non-native wood-boring pest, Sirex noctilio F., was found established in North America. Because S. noctilio is an economically important pest in pine plantations throughout the Southern Hemisphere, interest in the ecology of American native wood wasp populations has increased. A study was conducted during fall 2011 to investigate the effects of forest stand type and characteristics on native wood wasp abundance, and to describe their flight phenology in northeastern Mississippi. In total, 609 native wood wasps were captured, consisting of 608 Sirex nigricornis F. and one Urocerus cressoni Norton. There were significant treatment and location effects that influenced wood wasp abundance. The flight period of wood wasps captured in our study (October–December) was similar to studies in the southeastern United States, but differed from results in Minnesota and the northeastern United States (June–October). Wood wasp abundance was significantly correlated with higher basal area, smaller tree diameter at breast height, and shorter trees, all indicators of forest stand stress. It appears proper silvicultural management of pine plantations may reduce native wood wasp population abundance in the southeastern United States, as it does to S. noctilio in the Southern Hemisphere. We propose implementing management models used for the southern pine beetle to reduce stand hazard of future infestations of native and invasive wood wasps.