Acta Scientiarum Polonorum
Silvarum Colendarum Ratio et Industria Lignaria

The paper compares the effectiveness of two types of traps intended for monitoring the number of the sharp toothed bark beetle Ips acuminatus (Gyll.). The traps were located in pine stands – Pinus sylvestris L., where mass occurrence of I. acuminatus were recorded and in zones outside gradation. Field observations were carried out in 2019 during the third peak of the bark beetle population. The experiment used 250 pieces of 1.5 m long fresh medium-sized pine round woods lying on sleepers and 250 pieces of 2 m medium-sized pine round woods dug vertically into the soil to a depth of 0.5 m. The number of new inlet opening of the bark beetle imagines into the pine shafts was counted within the set deadlines. In total, 1,255 inlet openings by sharp-toothed bark beetle were recorded. No significant differences were found between the traps placed in the gradation zone and outside it. It seems that despite the differences in the gradation zone and outside it, the settlement of traps was at a similar level. This may mean that the sharp-toothed bark beetle in the studied non-gradation zones is already so numerous that it will cause visible losses in the stands. No significant differences were found to make the lying traps more effective than the standing ones, but in the case of the analysis of the settlement of standing and lying traps in the gradation zone, standing traps were more likely to be inhabited. In order to confirm the obtained results, the test should be continued. It was observed that, in general, the sharp-toothed bark beetle chose sunlit traps more often and at warmer exhibitions. The beetles’ flying from trap rollers around mid-September may indicate the possibility of beetles hibernating outside the feeding grounds.