Population Dynamics, Impacts, and Integrated Management of Forest Defoliating Insects

Pine plantations on Typic Quartzipsamments in East Texas are difficult to establish. Forest management options following clearcutting are limited. An 8-year regeneration study of the growth and survival of loblolly, Pinus taeda, L. shortleaf, P. echinata Mill., slash, P. elliotii Engelm and longleaf pines P. palustris Mill. was conducted to determine optimum tree species and treatments for reforestation, and to recommend practical alternative land uses and management strategies for Typic Quartzipsamments. Successful regeneration provides new opportunities for insects and pathogens. Impacts of the Nantucket pine tip moth, R}iyacionia frustrana (Comstock), the Deodar weevil, Pissodes nemorensis, Germar, Annosus root rot, Heterobasidion annosum (Fr: Fr) Bref, fusiform rust, Cronartium quercuum (Berk.) Miyabe ex Shirai f. sp. fusiforme (hedge and N. Hunt) Burdsall and G. Snow and the Texas leaf-cutting ant, Atta texana, (Buckley) will be discussed in the context of droughty site management.