The recent epidemic of northern red oak, Quercus rubra L., mortality within the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests appears to result from a population explosion of a normally innocuous, native species of long-horned wood boring beetle, the Red Oak Borer, Enaphalodes rufulus (Haldeman) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Constructing life tables of the various life stages with the objective of comparing the histories of populations inhabiting individual trees will be discussed. We present here a summary of the red oak borer’s biology from when larvae first attack the bark surface up to when adults emerge two years later from a hardwood gallery. The following ‘within-tree’ population densities were assessed: attack density, emergence hole density, first year gallery density and previous generation gallery density. Data on stage-specific within-tree population densities will be presented and survivorship of these life stages will be discussed in relation to factors such as site aspect and tree species composition.
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