Snow gum die back linked to climate change

Many people know the story of the Pine beetle which has been devastating huge areas of forest across North America because of climate change.

Longicorn beetle damage.

In brief, the mountain pine beetle’s ability to survive and multiply rapidly is highly sensitive to temperature and precipitation. Warmer average temperatures allow pine beetles to complete their life cycle in just one year instead of two. Rising minimum temperatures in the Colorado Rockies have allowed more beetles to survive the winter and from 2009 to 2010, mountain pine beetle activity increased more than 10-fold, infesting 200,000 acres (80,000 hectares) on the Front Range, and killing off millions of hectares of trees in North America.

There is a similar scenario emerging in Australia’s mountain forests, although it is much less known.

Read The Mountain Journal story - "Snow gum die back linked to climate change."