#Fungi disarm #BarkBeetle chemical shields by converting their plant-derived toxins https://phys.org/news/2025-12-fungus-bark-beetle-chemical-shields.html https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2525513122

"a bark beetle can co-opt a tree's defensive compounds to make defenses against its own enemies. However, since one of the enemies, the #fungus Beauveria bassiana, has developed the ability to detoxify these antimicrobial defenses, it can successfully infect the #BarkBeetles and thus actually help the tree in its battle against bark #beetles"

#Fungi #Symbiosis

Greece. Another carbon sink one bites the dust. After Germany, Finland, and ...? Yet EU policy is still to use national carbon sinks to balance insufficient or absent sectoral CO2 reduction. Which is allowed practice according to the UNFCCC as well. Stupid, isn't it. It's called the pyrocene for a reason.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/19/survived-wildfires-drought-killing-greece-fir-forests-aoe

#Forest #BarkBeetle #WildFire #CarbonSink #Greece #Pyrocene #Anthropocene #EconObscene

#Germany is losing its #forests, FAST. In the central Harz region, over 90 percent of spruce trees are dead or dying because of #climatechange and insect damage. But this isn’t necessarily bad news. Instead of the former #monoculture #forest, a more resilient, wild forest is springing up, with a more abundant ecosystem. #barkbeetle #amazingnature #deforestation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9UprJXSVSg

Pine Beetles Adapting To A Changing Climate, Finds Study [British Columbia, Canada]
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https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/animal-stories/pine-beetles-adapting-to-a-changing-climate-finds-study-8616846 <-- shared media article
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https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17207 <-- shared paper
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[a number of years ago I worked with the USFS in Colorado on mountain pine beetle from a NEPA, varied stakeholder & SMEs, multifactor spatiotemporal analysis (sic) perspective (https://fe9h.short.gy/TPbN5e); due to this, as a Coloradan and coming from a family of lumber folk, I retain a strong interest in this hazardous and destructive blight, especially as climate change proceeds]
#GIS #spatial #mapping #BritishColumbia #BC #Canada #barkbeetle #pinebeetle #spatiotemporal #spatialanalysis #mountainpinebeetle #lodgepolepine #forest #forestry #risk #hazard #climatechange #habitat #ecosystem #biology #destructive #tree #trees #economiccost #carbondioxide #reproduction #impacts #CO2 #forestbiology #vulnerability #drought #water #hydrology #boreal

The end of the great northern forests? The tiny tree-killing beetle wreaking havoc on our ancient giants

“This is a global phenomenon but it is also a complicated story,” says Prof Diana Six, a forest entomologist at the University of Montana.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/05/collapse-northern-boreal-forests-drought-fire-beetles-climate-crisis-ancient-trees-carbon-sink?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

#forests #climate #BarkBeetle

#DailyBloggingChallenge (81/100)

While being in the #Harz one would assume that the #BarkBeetle should carry all the blame for the dying of the forests, though after closer investigation it is only the symptom of a man made change to #ecology.

Originally the #forest was quite mixed and humankind wanted a quick way to get lumber back again, thus they chose to create a mono culture of #spruce. This in theory would be fine as long as the climate would align with the tree’s ideal conditions. Though as locals have experienced in the past years this isn’t the case anymore and thereby creating the ideal biotope for the bark beetle to spread like wild fire.

As much as one would assume the bark beetle to be the pest, it has its place in the ecology. Its purpose is to weed out the weak trees to create more space for the other trees and give home to various species. Killing off the beetle would in return also reduce the food source of various other species, especially larger bugs and birds.

#nature #outdoors #biology

🌲🔍 Non-European #BarkBeetle Pityophthorus solus spotted in the wild in Belgium (found previously in Spain & Hawaii outside its native range). https://tinyurl.com/bdct58tx

🙏Thanks to T.Atkinson, M.Knížek & other #scolytinae experts for ID help.

🪲🪵Wood borers spotted during #IUFRO division 7 conference in Bordeaux:
1️⃣Monochamus galloprovincialis, gorgeous #Cerambycidae but vector of the Pine wood nematode😱
2️⃣Six-toothed #BarkBeetle, Ips sexdentatus. Smaller but still very harmful🌲
3️⃣Ergates faber: Beware of its mandibles!🪚

Field trip during #IUFRO division 7 conference on bark and wood borers in Bordeaux. Monochamus traps, six-toothed #BarkBeetle and some extra criters…
🐜 🦋 🐞 🐛 Insect freaks were wandering all over the place, scratching at every piece of bark they could find 🤪

🌲🪲When a #BarkBeetle challenges Donald Trump's hairstyle... Or is it more BoJo? These female Pityokteines spinidens are amazing anyway💃🔥! Fancy more diversity of bark beetle heads and butts? Check out Jiri Hulcr
and @MarcAbrahams fantastic book https://shorturl.at/cDPQ5

🪲Can pheromone traps really make a difference against the spruce #BarkBeetle (Ips typographus)?🌲 Our 2-year experimental study reveals some surprising insights🧑‍🔬 !

Read all about it in our recent paper.📚 https://peerj.com/articles/14093/ via @PeerJ
For a quick summary, follow this thread ⤵️ 1/

PG&E came to cut the three Ponderosa Pines they marked last year. Biggest tree left us 18 six foot sections plus the crown - that's about 120 feet tall! 🤯
#trees #barkbeetle #thicktrunk #alongthegreatdivide

Every vacation I take inadvertently turns into a research outing! Increasingly, Ips typographus’ passages are visible, especially in the extremely vulnerable spruce plantations. Here, in the Eifel, the wise decision is made to not replant monocultures, but let the forests regenerate into more resilient, ecologically richer, and future-proof mixed forests. It will take at least half a century before these are ‘mature’.
#ipstypographus #wilderkermeter #barkbeetle #eifel #ecology #forestry