Written by Peter Kolb, Montana State University
Figure 1. Some common tree-inhabiting beetles including large staghorn beetles (center), roundheaded borers (left), and a variety of much smaller bark beetles (right). Photo courtesy of Peter Kolb, Montana State University.
Insects perform many roles within forests as pollinators, herbivores, carnivores, decomposers, and food sources for other organisms. As a group, they are the most abundant and important group in the phylum Arthropoda, and by 1972 more than 900,000 species had already been …