Beetles Global Warming Essay

The emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis, is a beetle that was first discovered in 2002 in the US near the Detroit area and southeastern portions of Michigan. This beetle is believed to have originated in Asia. The theory is that they arrived in the states in packing material made of wood on cargo ships traveling on the St. Lawrence River, which then leads into the Great Lakes. Since 2002, this beetle has made its way into parts of Canada and now in at least eighteen states in the US (Emerald, n.d.). They are causing major destruction of Ash trees in all of these areas, and Vermont is starting to take precautions to be prepared if and when these beetles show up in The Green Mountain

Forests play a critical role in mitigating climate change because they act as a carbon sink soaking up carbon dioxide that would otherwise be free in the atmosphere and contribute to ongoing changes in climate patterns. Deforestation undermines this important carbon sink function. It is estimated that 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions are the

Global warming is causing a drastic climate change all over the world and it seen to have an effect on plant life as well. While desert winters have become warmer and drier over the years, climate changes have pushed the arrival of winter rains later in the year, forcing many winter-annual plants to emerge later when temperatures are colder (Sanchez, 1994). This can disrupt the feeding patterns of many animals and insects and they would have to adapt by eating vegetation and insects that they are not normally used to eating. If these plants include creosote bushes, then the grasshoppers are also in danger of being eaten to

Forests in Northern Arizona that the tribal communities depend upon are currently threatened by climate change. Ecosystems with high and rising temperatures, such as Northern Arizona, are susceptible to drought. In turn, the decrease in precipitation due to droughts leads to an overall reduction in growth as well as health for plants. A study concerning Northern Arizona forest found that tree mortality increased 200% from 1997-2002 to 2002-2007 in mixed-conifer forests and 74% in ponderosa pine forests. This tree mortality can be traced back to forest insects like bark beetles as well as long-term drought stress throughout the ecosystem (Ganey & Vojta, 162). Insects such as the spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis), pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae), and especially piñon ips beetle (Ips spp.) threaten forests (MacDonald & Turner, 21260). Climate change causes tree mortality as overall warming leads to greater beetle reproduction as well as greater range of beetle territory (MacDonald

The Asian gypsy moth is an extreme defoliator, however there are other disturbances that it causes to threaten biodiversity by affecting native population dynamics and carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling (Jankovic and Petrovskii, 2013). The gypsy moth is one of many invasive species that has assaulted the deciduous trees found in eastern North America (Vitousek et al., 1996). The gypsy moth has a wide plant host range, which can be abundantly found in the American forests (Vitousek et al., 1996). Certain species such as beech, dogwood, and super maple trees are on a severe decline while the American elm and beech trees have been almost completely eliminated from the eastern forests by the gypsy moth (Vitousek et al., 1996). Defoliation

Spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens)) outbreaks have an important effect on succession of balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) and spruce (Picea spp.) stands in eastern Canadian forests (MacLean 2004). Spruce budworm feeds repeatedly on annual shoots of balsam fir and spruce and leads to large-scale growth reduction and mortality (MacLean and Ostaff 1989). When overstory tree mortality occurs from defoliation, it creates gaps that allow understory plants to get an opportunity to release (Osawa 1994; Kemball et al. 2005). Defoliation also changes the competitive interactions between host fir-spruce and non-host species and may release the latter.

The mountain pine beetle (MPB; Dendroctonus ponderosae) is a native insect of North America that induces pine tree mortality from bark boring infestation. On average, the MPB lives for one year with four stages of development (egg, larva, pupa and adult). The MPB remains burrowed within a host pine tree throughout all four stages of its life except in the late fall when the mature beetles leave a brood tree in search of a new reproduction site. When a MPB finds an optimal tree for infestation, pheromones are released which attract a swarm of adult beetles. After successfully burrowing into the Pine bark, egg galleries are created for the 75 eggs each female will lay, and these eggs develop into larvae that feed on the host tree's phloem.

Forests are carbon sinks, they absorb carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and store it in plant biomass and soils belowground. When the trees die, they stop absorbing and storing carbon dioxide, and as they decompose, they release some of the stored carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere (Suzuki & Moola, 2008). The mountain pine beetle (Aendroctonus ponderosae) is a primary agent of forest disturbance, a higher number of outbreaks occur due to favorable forest age and climate patterns (Progar et al., 2014). The mountain pine beetle (MPB) starts its attack when the female finds a pine tree (usually lodgepole) that is at least 80 years old. Upon finding the tree the female bores into it, while releasing a pheromone that attracts the male beetles. When the males arrive they, also release more pheromones to attract more females. The tree tries to defend its self by secreting a toxic resin. But the beetles carry spores of a blue-stain fungus in their mouths which they release as they bore into the tree, the fungus prevents the tree from transporting nutrients and water. The beetles lay eggs under the tree’s bark, and when the larvae hatch, they feed on the blue fungus until they are mature enough to leave the now dead tree (Aukema et al., 2006).

Over the last few decades in North America an insect has wreaked havoc on the coniferous trees that inhabit the Rocky Mountains. The insect known as the Mountain Pine Bark Beetle, or Dendroctonus ponderosae although once an important part of the cycle of life in the pines of the Rocky Mountains has recently grown out of control. Because of the beetles need to live inside of trees, they have adapted the ability to fight against the trees defenses, but in doing so have endangered the trees by cutting off their source of moisture throughout the tree. The Mountain pine beetle has an interesting physiology that allows it to burrow into trees. This causes many

lost of ice. Insects will begin to migrate, which will cause pine beetles to kill the White

For maximum dung burial in spring, summer and autumn, farmers need a variety of species of beetles coinciding with periods of activity. In the colder areas of the state Victoria, the large Austrian species, which is usually 3.0 cms long, is matched with smaller, around half of its size; sub-tropical Australian species. The Austrian species beetles are less adaptable to cold weather, so are slow to recover from the winter cold and produce only two or three generations of offspring from late spring until autumn. The Australian beetles, which multiply rapidly in early spring, give birth to three to five generations annually. The French species is a temperate-climate beetle, so it prefers the climate of northern and coastal areas of Victoria and

The Emerald Ash Borer is a phloem-feeding beetle that is native to Asia and has been increasing its presence in the US. The beetle is invasive, harmful to native ash trees, and has the ability to spread (Kovacs et al., 2010). The invasive beetles cause destruction to ash trees in a gradual process, that usually lasts three years. The beetles initiate the attack along the upper trunk and bases of main branches and then work their way down (Winners, 2002). The adult beetles lay eggs on the ash tree’s bark and when they hatch, the larvae bore into the bark and feed on the transportation tissues of the tree (NCFS, 2016). This causes disruption of the movement of nutrients and water within the tree. Since the bug resides and lays eggs within the tree’s bark, they are hard to recognize until the

Over 600 people have evacuated there homes because of pine beetles. Colorado has already burned trough more than 75,000

The way this was tested was by placing the African dung beetles in two different environments. One environment tested how a

Marked by its swampy woodlands the boreal forest biome is located in the northern part of Canada and Russia. Evidently, the boreal forest ecosystem is comprised of many different species such as wolf, lynx, moose, hare, marten, conifer, and grass (Biome Explorer, 2012). Unfortunately, global warming is a scenario that could cause the genetic diversity of the boreal forest population to be severely damaged. For example, if this biome were to experience an increase in temperature it would positively impact bark beetles causing outbreaks which in turn becomes detrimental to the trees within this ecosystem such as the conifers. Therefore, global warming would cause unbalance between the bark beetles and the conifers, since the increase of bark