Helena Bylund

My main research interest is to better understand what factors that are governing the population ecology and spatiotemporal population dynamics of mainly insects considered to be “pests” and their interaction with forest systems. Assessing the mechanisms behind the patterns discerned at different temporal and spatial scales can give insights to the role of behavior, abiotic and biotic factors in the complex interactions within and between trophic levels. A better understanding of the processes in both managed and “natural” systems can improve our abilities to make risk assessments and improve forest management to reduce the risk of insect damage in a changing climate.

Two types of forest pests have been my research focus: regeneration pests (i.e. pine weevils),  defoliators in natural/seminatural (geometrids and forest tent caterpillar moths) forest systems and in managed forests (pine sawflies).

I have also been involved in studies of insect pests of agricultural crops, in studies of the role of insects as vectors of bacterial and virus diseases in agricultural crops and in the network CLINF where we tried to predict how zoonotic diseases can develop and spread in a warming climate. The latter two recent project areas have offered me new important insights into epidemiological theories and methods, that I think will be valuable aspects to consider in our ongoing studies of the spatiotemporal dynamics and ecology of insects.