Geography 2152F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Mountain Pine Beetle, Pinus Ponderosa, Silt
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Reading 5 questions: how has the elimination of some forest fires contributed to the mountain pine beetle problem in. Climate change and its ensuing increase in temperatures and drought have stressed trees, leaving them unable to fight invasion. Explain how that has changed in recent years. Most bark beetles lay eggs under trees that are already dead/dying. The mountain pine beetle, however, is more likely to go after a healthy tree. Usually trees can defend themselves, unless the volume of beetles attacking is to great. The drought and warmer temperatures have stressed the trees so much that they succumb easier and by give the beetles more time to attack them. Now, the beetles have additional time to reproduce: describe how female beetles have evolved to survive the natural defenses that the trees produce. Female beetles must burrow through tree resin, which usually flushes the beetle out as a defense.