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Pine Beetles Eat Through Western Forests

Posted Jul 16, 08 12:51 PM CDT in US,  Science & Health 

(Newser) – The biggest infestation of mountain pine beetles in decades is devastating huge tracts of forest in the Western states, USA Today reports; forestry workers say the bugs are killing even more trees than the wildfires ravaging California's forests. The larvae consume the inner bark of trees, usually lodgepole pines, killing the tree—and creating fuel for more fires.

Forestry workers qualify that the beetles are a native species who play an important role in the forest ecosystem. Others warn, however, that rising temperatures mean the bugs are spreading to new areas and attacking species. "This is one of the canary-in-the-coal-mine warning signs," said one.

Source USA Today

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Pine trees killed by beetles are shown in their rusty red color near Grandby, Colo., in this undated aerial photo provided by the Colorado State Forest Service.   (AP Photo/Colorado State Forest Service )
A Mountain Pine beetle or bark beetle is seen on the tip of forester Cal Wettstein's knife during the examination of trees in the White River National Forest in this July 5, 2005 file photo.   (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, file)
Dead bark beetles are displayed next to a penny in the Wyatt Williams lab at Boise State University in Boise, Idaho, in this Aug. 24,2006, file photo.   (AP Photo/Troy Maben,File)
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insects  • trees  • infestation  • forests  • beetle


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