Science Daily - Study Projects Lodgepole Pine May Survive In Only 17% Of Current N. American Range

[hatrack]

A massive epidemic of bark beetle infestation on these stands of lodgepole pine in British Columbia reflect the impact that changing climate is having on the ability of this tree species to survive, a new study suggests. (Credit: Photo courtesy of Richard Waring, Oregon State University)

ScienceDaily (Feb. 28, 2011) — Lodgepole pine, a hardy tree species that can thrive in cold temperatures and plays a key role in many western ecosystems, is already shrinking in range as a result of climate change -- and may almost disappear from most of the Pacific Northwest by 2080, a new study concludes.

Including Canada, where it is actually projected to increase in some places, lodgepole pine is expected to be able to survive in only 17 percent of its current range in the western parts of North America.

The research, just published in the journal Climatic Change, was done by scientists from the College of Forestry at Oregon State University and the Department of Forest Resource Management at the University of British Columbia. It was based on an analysis of 12,600 sites across a broad geographic range.

Lodgepole pine ecosystems occupy large areas following major fires where extreme cold temperatures, poor soils and heavy, branch-breaking snows make it difficult for other tree species to compete. This includes large parts of higher elevation sites in Oregon, Washington, the Rocky Mountains and western Canada. Yellowstone National Park is dominated by this tree species. However, warming temperatures, less winter precipitation, earlier loss of snowpack and more summer drought already appear to be affecting the range of lodgepole pine, at the same time increasing the infestations of bark beetles that attack this tree species.

EDIT

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110228121452.htm

[bananas]

1. Wow, that looks just like the Chernobyl Wormwood Red Forest

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Forest

The Red Forest (Ukrainian: Рудий ліс, Russian: Рыжий лес), formerly the Worm Wood Forest, refers to the trees in the 10 km² surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The name 'Red Forest' comes from the ginger-brown colour of the pine trees after they died following the absorption of high levels of radiation from the Chernobyl accident on April 26, 1986.<1> In the post-disaster cleanup operations, the Red Forest was bulldozed and buried in 'waste graveyards'.<2> The site of the Red Forest remains one of the most contaminated areas in the world today.<3>

So after we bull-dozed and buried most of it underground, it's still a fucking hole-hell, but Conservative Idiots(tm) think it's a wildlife paradise.
That's why we call them Idiots.

"We address the right in harsh terms, and we fully intend to make the word "conservative" absolutely radioactive. In that spirit, DU has already gained countrywide notoriety as the originator of the weekly Top Ten Conservative Idiots list"

- From "About Democratic Underground" at http://www.democraticunderground.com/about.html

[bananas]

2. Hmm, actually, the Chernobyl Kill Zone looks a hell of a lot worse ...

[GliderGuider]

4. Difference in area

The Red Forest around Chernobyl occupies 10 square kilometers. The mountain pile beetle has so far killed over 8,000 square kilometers of lodgepole pines. That's already 800 times the size of the Red Forest, and the death zone will keep expanding for the rest of the century.

That's the difference between a nuclear accident and an ecological one. As bad as the first is, the second has the potential to be limitless.

[joshcryer]

5. And the pine beetle infestation is *DIRECTLY* caused by climate change.

Figure that one.

[pscot]

3. What will replace

the lodgepole pines? Hotter summers; probably colder winters little precip, sounds like Mars.

[joshcryer]

6. No trees for decades. By 2080 alternate trees will only be starting to migrate.

We're talking at least a century of largely dead ecosystem that kills billions if not trillions of wildlife (trillions if you count the wildlife that otherwise would've existed). Fun times.