Richard Hofstetter, Ph.D. - Associate Professor
Community Ecology, Population Dynamics, Tritrophic Interactions, Symbioses and Insect
For more information see lab webpage.
Our current research involves understanding the response of insects to forest management
through thinning and wildfire in pine forests, effects of tree characteristics and
resin defense against insects, the role of bark beetles in influencing the structure
and evolution of pine forest ecosystems, improving insect attractants, the effects
of thinning piles on forest insect communities, interactions among fungi, mites
and bark beetles across multiple bark beetle communities, and the evolution and
ecology of acoustic communication in bark beetles. The National Science Foundation,
USDA Competitive Grants Program, and USDA Forest Service support this research.
Bark beetles are integral components in forest ecosystems and can be viewed as beneficial
or detrimental depending on the management objectives. Most bark beetles cause little
or no economic damage as they normally infest branches, stumps, and stems of standing
dead, severely weakened trees or downed material. Although all bark beetles are
relatively small, 1mm to 8mm in length, several species attack and kill living,
apparently healthy trees. In the southwest United States there are several important
beetle species in the genus Ips and Dendroctonus that attack and kill large stands
of conifers (http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r3/forest-grasslandhealth/insects-diseases/?cid=STELPRDB5228457).
In Arizona, there are currently 30 known species of bark beetle that inhabit the
Ponderosa pine. This complex of bark beetles offers an interesting community of
study that is rarely found anywhere else in the world. There are many interesting
questions, both applied and basic, that can be asked: How do we manage our forest
to account for multiple beetle species and their pathogens? How does interspecific
competition between species affect beetle population dynamics? Why do particular
beetle species outbreak while others do not? Are fungi and mites associated with
bark beetles switching among beetles hosts?
B.S. University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1992
M.S. University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1996
Ph.D. Dartmouth College, 2003
Postdoctoral: Dartmouth College 2004
Associate Professor of Forest Entomology. School of Forestry, NAU 2011-present
Appointment History at NAU
Assistant Professor of Forest Entomology. School of Forestry, NAU 2008 - 2011
Assistant Professor-Research. School of Forestry, NAU 2005 - 2008
Office: Building 82 - Room 208
Publications are listed at Google Scholar.