CPEP Seminar – The Sweet Side of Tree Resistance: Exploring the Role of Non-Structural Carbohydrates in Mediating Tree Defenses Against Forest Pests and Pathogens

Speaker: Amy Trowbridge, Assistant Professor of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, UW–Madison

There is a recent push to understand the role of non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) in governing stress tolerance of forests in the face of predicted global change factors. Trowbridge will present work from her group regarding key traits and potential mechanisms driving susceptibility of a conifer species to native bark beetles and aspen to an invasive herbivore. Trowbridge will highlight links between NSC availability and phytochemical defenses, discuss stress-induced thresholds, and offer potential mechanisms at play in governing tree susceptibility to biotic attack and the implications for remotely sensing mortality events.

This seminar can also be viewed via our live stream.

Hosted by the Climate, People and the Environment Program (CPEP).