German Forests Sicker than Ever

Here's one reason more why growth of climate unstabilizing greenhouse gas emissions should be stopped and reversed.

Many forests are already greatly stressed because human caused pollution and now climate change is coming into play also. This stress makes them still weaker to resist pests and other threats.

Germany's trees are stressed out. According to the foresters who trek through the country's woodlands each summer noting signs of illness, the top stress factor is climate change.

Summers in Germany have been much hotter than normal over the past few years. The excessive heat has not only dried out the trees, it's also provided ideal conditions for tree-damaging pests, such as the bark beetle, to multiply faster.

Bark beetles eat their way deep inside the tree's trunk, weakening it from the inside. If the coming spring is a mild one, then next summer could see a bark beetle epidemic -- a "ticking time-bomb," according to the Environment Ministry.


The figures in its 2004 report are alarming. The ministry concluded that 31 percent of the nation's trees fall under the highest level of damage, meaning that the treetop is completely dead. It's the highest figure since Germany began producing the annual report in 1984. Beech trees are the worst affected, with over 50 percent of trees bearing damaged tops. Oak trees are the second worst affected.

www.dw-world.de...

And these dying forests are real paradise for pests so in coming years pests itself might be causing huge destruction in forests even without additional help of weather phenomenons.
(and considering human caused "monoculture" forests are very prone to pests... I think results should be clear enough)


And in the name of fairness, here something for those living on "new continent": www.powerlink.net...