CLAUSTHAL-ZELLERFELD, Germany (AP) — Nestled in the spruce trees in the Harz mountains of northern Germany is a bark-eating pest not much bigger than a sesame seed.
Tiny bark beetles have been causing havoc in Germany's Harz mountains, eating away at trees and killing off swaths of the spruce population by hampering their ability to take in nutrients. Drought made longer and more intense by climate change is making the problem even worse, as beetles prefer the trees weakened by a lack of water and reproduce better in the warm and dry conditions. Forest conservationists know they have a problem, but there are no easy solutions. A mixture of good planning, chemical pesticides and a longer- term effort to plant different trees in the region are strategies to keep the beetles at bay. But with the climate warming up, it's unclear if conservationists will win their battle against the bugs.
Two-thirds of the spruce in the region have already been destroyed, said Alexander Ahrenhold from the Lower Saxony state forestry office, and as human-caused climate change makes the region drier and the trees more favourable homes for the beetles' larvae, forest conservationists are preparing for the worst.
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