Ecosystems and Wildlife, continued
Older news articles on bark beetles, whose numbers, range, and effects are all exploding as warming in the West removes the cold temperatures that served as the natural check on them:
- Trees in trouble and Whitebarks and grizzlies, Casper Star-Tribune, August 1, 2007. Beetles thriving through warmer winters continue to wreak havoc on the relatively defenseless whitebark pines of Yellowstone and the northern Rockies, but a debate is waged about the likely consequences for Yellowstone’s grizzly bears.
- Insect insurrection, Casper Star-Tribune, July 30, 2007. Renowned bark beetle expert Jesse Logan points out the high potential for the beetles to spread eastward from western Canada through thepreviously uninfested jack pine forests of northern Canada, then down the East Coast, and ultimately back westward to Texas.
- Cold brings no relief for pines in beetle war, Rocky Mountain News, February 16, 2007. Scientists try to determine just how cold it needs to be to kill bark beetles. Meanwhile, University of Colorado climatologist Klaus Wolter compiles statistics that show the north-central Colorado mountains, the epicenter of the lodgepole pine beetle kill, have warmed faster than any other part of the state during the last 50 years - twice as fast as the state overall.
- In the Rockies, pines die and bears feel ot, New York Times, January 30, 2007. Retired US Forest Service bark beetle expert Dr. Jesse Logan continues to sound the alarm about the unprecedented spread of beetles into northern Rockies whitebark pine forests, whose pine cones are a critical food source for grizzly bears fattening up for hibernation. “It’s all about global warming,” Dr. Logan says. “The trees can’t move uphill, you know. They’ll run out of mountain.”
- Tiny bark beetle unleashes voracious appetite, Billings Gazette, January 18, 2007.
- Killer beetles juiced up to beat the cold, Denver Post, February 1, 2007. The primary natural control on beetle populations is extreme cold, but recent cold spells appear to be insufficient to stop them.
- Lessons to be learned from West’s beetle infestations, Denver Post, December 3, 2006. Warming and fire suppression combine to provide more food for beetles.
- Beetles’ invasion might help forests in the long run, Denver Post, November 28, 2006, and Meet the beetles with care, Denver Post, November 29, 2006. A report by researchers at CSU, CU, and the University of Idaho reviews the historic ecology of beetle outbreaks and six possible treatment options. As pointed out in a Denver Post editorial, the study’s conclusions may not adequately take into account changes in the timing and impact of their infestations under changing climatic conditions.
- Cold likely not halting Canada pine beetle spread, Reuters, November 30, 2006. In Canada, the absence of prolonged cold spells, as well as fire suppression, fails to halt a spreading beetle infestation.
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