1. A warming climate, as predicted under current climate change projections, is likely to influence the population dynamics of many forest insect species. Numerous bark beetle species in both Europe and North America have already responded to a warming climate by significantly expanding their geographical ranges.
2. The aim of the current study was to investigate how populations of bark beetles within stands of Sitka spruce, a widely planted non‐native commercial plantation tree species in the U.K., were likely to respond to a warming climate. Experimental plots were established in stands of Sitka spruce over elevational gradients in two commercial forest plantations, and the abundance and emergence times of key bark beetle species were assessed over a 3‐year period using flight interception traps. The air temperature difference between the lowest and highest experimental plot in each forest was consistently >1°C throughout the 3‐year period.
3. In general, the abundance of the most dominant bark beetle species (e.g. Trypodendron, Dryocoetes, Hylastes spp.) was higher, and emergence times tended to be earlier in the year at the lower elevation plots, where temperatures were higher, although not all bark beetle species responded in the same manner.
4. The results of the study indicated that, under the projected future climate warming scenarios, monoculture Sitka spruce stands at low elevations may potentially be more vulnerable to significant outbreak events from existing or invasive bark beetle species. Hence, consideration of establishing more resilient forests of Sitka spruce by diversifying the species composition and structure of Sitka spruce stands is discussed.

中文翻译：

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在锡特卡云杉林中调查海拔梯度上树皮甲虫（鞘翅目：Curculionidae：Scolytinae）的丰度和飞行时间

1. 根据目前的气候变化预测，气候变暖可能会影响许多森林昆虫物种的种群动态。欧洲和北美的许多树皮甲虫物种已经通过显着扩大其地理范围来应对气候变暖。
2. 本研究的目的是调查Sitka云杉林中的树皮甲虫种群如何对英国变暖的气候做出反应，Sitka云杉林是英国广泛种植的非本地商业人工林树种。在两个商业人工林的海拔高度梯度的锡特卡云杉林分中建立了试验区，并使用飞行拦截器在3年内评估了主要树皮甲虫物种的丰度和出苗时间。在整个三年期间，每个森林中最低和最高实验区之间的空气温度差始终> 1°C。
3. 一般而言，最主要的树皮甲虫物种（例如锥虫，树足类，Hylastes spp。）的丰度较高，并且在海拔较低的地块（温度较高）下，出苗时间往往在一年中更早，尽管并非所有树皮甲虫物种以相同的方式做出反应。
4. 研究结果表明，在预计的未来气候变暖情况下，低海拔单作栽培的锡特卡云杉可能更容易受到来自现有或入侵的树皮甲虫物种的重大暴发事件的影响。因此，讨论了通过使锡特卡云杉林分的物种组成和结构多样化来建立锡特卡云杉更有弹性的森林的考虑。