Richard Hofstetter, Ph.D. - Associate Professor
Research Interests
Community Ecology, Population Dynamics, Tritrophic Interactions, Symbioses and Insect
Acoustics.
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.fed.us/r3/resources/health/beetle).
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?
Education
B.S. University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1992
M.S. University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1996
Ph.D. Dartmouth College, 2003
Postdoctoral: Dartmouth College 2004
Present Appointment
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
Contact Information
Office: Building 82 - Room 208
Phone: 928.523.6452
Email: Rich.Hofstetter@nau.edu
Selected Publications
Yturralde, K.M. and R.W. Hofstetter.
2012. Efficacy of commercially available ultrasonic pest repellent devices to
affect behavior of bed bugs, Cimex
lectularius. Journal of Economic Entomology 105(6): 2107-2114.
Cardoza, Y. J., R. W. Hofstetter,
and F. E. Vega. 2012. Insect-associated microorganisms and their possible role
in outbreaks. In "Insect Outbreaks Revisited" (P. Barbosa, D. K.
Letourneau, and A. A. Agrawal, Eds.), pp. 155-174. Wiley-Blackwell, UK.
Davis, T.S. and R.W. Hofstetter.
2012. Plant secondary chemistry mediates the performance of a nutritional
symbiont associated with a tree-killing herbivore. Ecology 93(2): 421-429.
Hofstetter, R.W., M.L. Gaylord, S.
Martinson and M. Wagner. 2012. Attraction to monoterpenes and beetle-produced
compounds by syntopic Ips and Dendroctonus bark beetles and their
predators. Agriculture and Forest Entomology 14: 207-215.
Davis, T., K. Jarvis, K. Parise and
R. Hofstetter. 2011. Oleoresin exudation rate increases and viscosity declines
following a fire event in a ponderosa pine ecosystem. Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of
Science 43(1): 6-11.
Davis, T.S. and R.W. Hofstetter.
2011. Oleoresin chemistry mediates oviposition behavior and fecundity of a
tree-killing bark beetle. Journal of Chemical Ecology 37: 1177-1183.
Smith, L., R. Mathiasen and R. Hofstetter.
2011. Biomass of witches’ brooms caused by Douglas-fir mistletoe in northern
Arizona. Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science 43(1): 40-47.
Evans, L.M., R.W. Hofstetter, M.P.
Ayres and K.D. Klepzig. 2011. Temperature changes a community: Dendroctonus frontalis and its
symbionts. Environmental Entomology 40(4): 824-834.
Hofstetter, R.W. 2011.Chapter 11:
Mutualists and Phoronts of the Southern Pine Beetle. In Southern Pine Beetle II (K.D. Klepzig
& R. Coulson, eds.). United States Dept. of Agriculture Forest Service,
Southern Research Station General Technical Report SRS-140. Pages 161-181.
http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/gtr/gtr_srs140/gtr_srs140.pdf
Klepzig, K.D. & R.W. Hofstetter.
2011. Chapter 9: From Attack to Emergence: Interactions between southern pine
beetle, mites, microbes and trees. In
Southern Pine Beetle II (K.D. Klepzig & R. Coulson, eds.). United States
Dept. of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station General Technical
Report SRS-140. Pages 141-152. http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/gtr/gtr_srs140/gtr_srs140.pdf
Davis, T.S. and R.W. Hofstetter.
2011. Reciprocal interactions between the bark-beetle associated yeast Ogataea pini and host plant
phytochemistry. Mycologia 103(6):
1201-1207.
Hofstetter, R.W. and M.R. Wagner.
2011. Carbon, bark beetles and biofuel. Journal of Forestry 109: 245-246.
Gaylord, M.L., R.W. Hofstetter, T.E.
Kolb and M.R. Wagner. 2011. Limited response of ponderosa pine bole defenses to
wounding and fungi. Tree Physiology 31: 428-437.
Davis, T.S., R.W. Hofstetter, J.T.
Foster, N.E. Foote and P. Keim. 2011. Interactions between the yeast Ogataea pini and filamentous fungi
associated with the western pine beetle. Microbial Ecology 61: 626-634.
Hulcr, J., A.S. Adams, K.F. Raffa,
R.W. Hofstetter, K.D. Klepzig, and C.R. Currie. 2011. Presence and diversity of
Streptomyces in Dendroctonus and sympatric bark beetle galleries across North
America. Microbial Ecology 61: 759-768
Fierke, M.K., D. Nowak, and R.W.
Hofstetter. 2011. Chapter 9: Forest Health Monitoring. In Using the Baseline Mortality Concept in Forest Health (eds. John
Castello and Steve Teale). SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
Cambridge University Press.
Davis, T.S., R.W. Hofstetter, K.D.
Klepzig, J.T. Foster, and P. Keim. 2010. Sympatry and allopatry of beetle hosts
influences the competitive interactions among fungal mutualists. Journal of
Yeast and Fungal Research 1: 118-126.
Gaylord, M, L., R.W. Hofstetter, and
M.R. Wagner. 2010. Impacts of silvicultural thinning treatments on bark beetle
trap captures and tree attacks during low bark beetle populations in ponderosa
pine forests of northern Arizona. Journal of Economic Entomology 103(5):
1693-1703.
Fischer, M., K. Waring, R.
Hofstetter & T. Kolb. 2010. Characteristics of ponderosa pine susceptible
to Dendroctonus adjunctus. Forest Science 56: 473-483.
Waring, K.M., D.M. Reboletti, L.A.
Mork, C.H. Huang, R.W. Hofstetter, A.M. Garcia, P.Z. Fule, and T.S. Davis.
2009. Modeling the impacts of two bark beetle species under a warming climate
in the southwestern USA: Ecological and economic consequences. Environ.
Management 44: 824-835.
Davis, T.S. and R.W. Hofstetter.
2009. The effects of gallery density and ratio on the fitness and fecundity of
two sympatric bark beetles. Environmental Entomology 38(3): 639-650.
Hofstetter, R.W., J.C. Moser, and R.
McGuire. 2009. Observations of the mite Schizosthetus lyriformis (Acari:
Parasitidae) preying on bark beetle eggs and larvae. Entomological News 120(4):
397-400.
Raffa, K.F., B. Aukema, B.J. Bentz,
A. Carroll, N. Erbilgin, D.A. Herms, J.A. Hicke, R.W. Hofstetter, S. Katovich,
B.S. Lindgren, J. Logan, W. Mattson, A.S. Munson, D.J. Robinson, D.L. Six, P.C.
Tobin, P.A. Thowsend and K.F. Wallin. 2009. A literal use of “Forest Health” safeguards
against misuse and misapplication. J. Forestry 107: 276-277.
Hayes, C.J., R.W. Hofstetter, T.E.
DeGomez, and M. Wagner. 2009. Effects of sunlight exposure and log size on pine
engraver (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) reproduction in ponderosa pine slash in
Northern Arizona. Agriculture and Forest Entomology 11: 341-350.
Hofstetter, R.W., Z. Chen, M.
Gaylord, J. McMillen & M. Wagner. 2008. Synergistic effects of the
attractants α-pinene and exo-brevicomin on the southern and western pine beetle
and associated predators in Arizona. J. Appl. Entomology 132(5): 387-397.
Hayes, C.J., T.E. DeGomez, J.D.
McMillin, J.A. Anhold and R.W. Hofstetter. 2008. Factors influencing pine
engraver (Ips pini Say) colonization of ponderosa pine (Pinus
ponderosa Dougl. ex. Laws.) slash in Northern Arizona. Forest Ecology and
Management 255: 3541-3548.
Gaylord, M.L., K.B. Williams, R.W.
Hofstetter, J.D. McMillin, T.E. DeGomez, & M.R. Wagner. 2008. Influence of
temperature on spring flight initiation for southwestern ponderosa pine bark
beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytidae). Environmental Entomology
37:57-69.
Pureswaran, D.S., R.W. Hofstetter,
& B. Sullivan. 2008. Attraction of the southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus
frontalis to pheromone components of the western pine beetle, Dendroctonus
brevicomis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) in an allopatric zone.
Environmental Entomology 37: 70-78.
Martinson, S., M.P. Ayres & R.W.
Hofstetter. 2007. Why does longleaf pine have low susceptibility to southern
pine beetle? Can. J. For. Research 37: 1966-1977.
Hofstetter, R.W., T.D. Dempsey, K.D.
Klepzig & M.P. Ayres. 2007. Temperature-dependent affects on mutualistic
and phoretic associations. Community Ecology 8(1): 47-56.
Hofstetter, R.W., K. D. Klepzig,
J.C. Moser & M.P. Ayres. 2006. Seasonal dynamics of mites and fungi and
interactions with southern pine beetle. Environmental Entomology 35: 22-30.
Kolb, T.E., N. Guerard, M.R. Wagner,
and R.W. Hofstetter. 2006. Attack preference of Ips pini in northern
Arizona: tree size and bole position. Agriculture and Forest Entomology
8:295-303.
Hofstetter, R.W., J. Cronin, K. D.
Klepzig, J.C. Moser & M.P. Ayres. 2006. Antagonisms, mutualisms and
commensalisms affect outbreak dynamics of the southern pine beetle. Oecologia
147(4): 679-691.
Hofstetter, R. W., J. Mahfous, K. D.
Klepzig, & M.P. Ayres. 2005. Effects of tree phytochemistry on the
interactions between endophloedic fungi associated with the southern pine
beetle. Journal of Chemical Ecology 31(3): 551-572.
Klepzig, K.D., J. Flores-Otero, R.W.
Hofstetter & M.P. Ayres. 2004. Effects of available water on growth and
competition of southern pine beetle associated fungi. Mycological Research 108:
183-188.
Lombardero, M.J., R.W. Hofstetter,
M.P. Ayres, K. Klepzig & J. Moser. 2003. Strong indirect interactions among
Tarsonemus mites (Acarina: Tarsonemidae) and Dendroctonus frontalis
(Coleoptera: Scolytidae). Oikos 102: 342-352.
Veysey, J.S., M.P. Ayres, M.J.
Lombardero, R.W. Hofstetter & K. Klepzig. 2003. The effect of host species
on reproductive success of Dendroctonus frontalis (Coleoptera:
Scolytidae). Environmental Entomology 32(2): 668-679.
Klepzig, K.D., J.C. Moser, F.J.
Lombardero, R.W. Hofstetter & M.P. Ayres. 2001. Symbiosis &
Competition: Complex interactions among beetles, fungi, and mites. Symbiosis
30:83-96.
Klepzig, K.D., J.C. Moser, F.J.
Lombardero, M.P. Ayres, R.W. Hofstetter & C.J. Walkinshaw. 2001. Mutualism
and antagonism: Ecological interactions among bark beetles, mites and fungi.
Pp. 237-267. In: Biotic Interactions in Plant-Pathogen Associations
(eds. M.J. Jeger & N.J. Spence). CAB International.
Dr. Hofstetter's publications are also listed at Google Scholar.