Mountain Pine Beetles: Climate Change Disaster or Natural Phenomenon?
Are mountain pine beetles, which have ravaged western forests from the American southwest up into Canada, a global warming-caused disaster or a necessary natural phenomenon? Some scientists and environmentalists believe that the much-maligned beetles are actually playing a vital ecological role, similar to forest fires.
From The New York Times:
Dr. Gregg DeNitto, a forest health specialist with the Forest Service here, said the beetles were not “an exotic like the emerald ash bore.”
“This is a native insect in a native host, and these are normal biological processes that have happened for millennia,” Dr. DeNitto said.
Nothing can or should be done to halt the spread of the beetle, experts say. After they kill the mature trees, the soil becomes more fertile as nitrogen levels increase, sometimes tripling. The growth rate of surviving trees increases when the infestation ends. After dead trees fall over or burn, grass grows and provides elk habitat, and slightly more diverse forests rise up.
Beetles help by breaking down fallen trees, as well. “They digest the wood and are valuable in terms of nutrient recycling,” said Dr. Ken Raffa, an entomologist at the University of Wisconsin who studies the beetles. “And they introduce micro-organisms that further break down the wood.”
That’s not to say that the beetles aren’t causing major damage, with the potential to do even more harm in the future. Bark beetles have destroyed 8 million acres of forest, a level of destruction not seen in 150 years. Once killed and vacated by the beetles, affected trees are at high risk of burning so hot in places that the fires could bake the soil, causing severe erosion and runoff. Moreover, many of the affected trees provide sustenance that species like grizzly bears rely on for survival.
Even the scientists who insist that the infestations are part of a natural process admit that, well, okay, maybe it’s not entirely natural. Fire suppression efforts and large-scale clear cuts make forests more vulnerable.
Dr. Diana Six, who has studied the phenomenon and believes that it’s a natural cycle that must play its course, says there’s no foreseeable end to the outbreak and that if it’s climate driven, “we have to reverse climate change.”
Link The New York Times
Photo credit: West Coast Climate Equity
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This entry was posted on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 10:30 am and is filed under Consciousness, Green Living, Health, Science, Spirituality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
