Northern forests have a new pest

[billvon 3,132]

As the climate warms, expect more Northern migrations of pests once confined to warmer areas.
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Destructive Southern Pine Beetle Migrates North
Mon, 06/22/2015 - 8:42am
Associated Press, Frank Eltman

The southern pine beetle, which for generations has attacked forests throughout the southeastern U.S., is methodically making its way into the Northeast, destroying thousands of trees in New York, New Jersey and elsewhere.

The beetle, which resembles a chocolate sprinkle, is viewed as a threat to all pine species, including pitch pine, the predominant tree found in the 100,000-acre environmentally sensitive Long Island Pine Barrens region. It was first discovered in New York last October, about a decade after it appeared in New Jersey, officials said.

. . .

"The only thing that would allow them to move up the coast was the climate," said Lisa Filippi, a biology professor at Hofstra University in Hempstead. "A very slight change in climate can cause a huge change in the life cycle of insects."

Robert Marsh, a natural resource supervisor at the New York DEC, wrote in a recent Long Island Pine Barrens Society newsletter that the beetle feeds under the tree's bark, eventually killing it. Female beetles release a pheromone that leaves a trail for other beetles to follow, causing destruction throughout a forest.

. . . .

New York DEC spokesman Peter Constantakes said the state is spending $340,000, including federal grant money, along with "considerable staff hours and resources" to address the issue. Foresters recently conducted an inventory to identify high-priority areas to fight off the beetle. Officials have cut down an estimated 5,000 trees on federal, state and county lands on Long Island since October, according to Wernet, including about 2,500 on state lands including the Pine Barrens.

"This tiny creature is causing massive destruction and the collective fear is that the beetle will dramatically alter the Pine Barrens ecosystem and our barrier islands," said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Long Island-based Citizens Campaign for the Environment. "The Pine Barrens ecosystem acts as a natural filter for clean water to seep into the aquifer and replenish our water supply. Severe damage to the Pine Barrens ecosystem may put our water supply at unknown risks."
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http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2015/06/destructive-southern-pine-beetle-migrates-north?et_cid=4636675&et_rid=45537935&type=cta

[kallend 2,175]

Sens. Inhofe and Cruz need to send a note to the beetles explaining that they are mistaken.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Anvilbrother 0]

Pine beetles are a BITCH! The will seriously wipe out trees at a staggering rate.

Postes r made from an iPad or iPhone. Spelling and gramhair mistakes guaranteed move along,

[lawrocket 3]

You put this out.

Quote

. . .

"The only thing that would allow them to move up the coast was the climate," said Lisa Filippi, a biology professor at Hofstra University in Hempstead. "A very slight change in climate can cause a huge change in the life cycle of insects."

Here was part of the ellipses (actually the immediately preceding sentence):

Quote

The reasons for its expansion northward have not been determined, but some say a rich supply of pine trees amid rising temperatures is one possibility.

So in one sentence it's they don't know. The next sentence says climate is the only thing that would allow them to move up. What gives?

Here's what gives.

Fact: these beetles stop where the pine trees are not.
Fact: these beetles have also been stopped in the past by geological and hydrographic features. For examples, they had been limited fifteen years ago by expansion northward by the Egg Harbor river. Then they got past the River and into the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey.

And how does a vermin such as this manage to skip from Southern New Jersey pine forests and New York Metro (where pine isn't really prevalent enough for them to take hold) into the Eastern quarter of Long Island? I'd think trucking and highways and freight and such might explain the movement, as well.

So the question is do we know or don't we? According to the whole article some think they know and others don't.

Aside: studies I've seen show average shift towards the poles of anywhere from 10-16 miles per decade. Here's from a couple years ago.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/01/us-climate-pests-idUSBRE9800B820130901

Meaning it's tough to see how a pest can move 120 miles from Southern Jersey to Eastern Long Island in five years without something else helping. In other words, the change was far too quick for climate alone to explain it. Although anthropogenic activities certainly can explain it quite nicely.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[normiss 905]

The way I read that, both say the same thing albeit expressed differently.

[lawrocket 3]

normiss

The way I read that, both say the same thing albeit expressed differently.

I have a hard time seeing any equivalence of between "one possibility" and "the only way."

Climate change is real. But asserting a 100 miles northward move of pest habitat to climate change ignores the science of it. Unless the theory is that this beetle is part of nature's climatic recon unit (which I haven't yet read) then this is another dubious assertion that is not backed by the established science.

If the beetles are limited to a certain climate, then they cannot go faster than that climate can expand. If the beetles are where the climate change couldn't have gotten to, then it's safe to say also that the climate there already existed and they were simply waiting for a ride.

This hypothesis has not been ruled out.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[Anvilbrother 0]

They way we stopped them in south Mississippi and Louisiana is just clear cutting the pines around them kind of how you let a wildfire burn out by digging a firebreak around it. Once they couldn't spread to more pines they stopped there.

Postes r made from an iPad or iPhone. Spelling and gramhair mistakes guaranteed move along,