Droughts and storms caused by global warming have made Germany's forests much more vulnerable, especially the appearance of bark beetles. So what is its power that can cause such large fluctuations?
The Scarab Code counted the leather jacket from a small guy a few millimeters in length, but it was this inconspicuous little creature that silently killed a large number of trees in the German forests. In September 2019, Germany** held a summit to discuss how to protect trees next. The summit decided to spend 800 million euros to restore 180,000 hectares of forest over a four-year period. Nevertheless, this is still a huge difference from the 2.3 billion euros proposed by the German Forest Ownership Association.
There are fewer and fewer trees and more bare trunks, and if one takes a look at the Werso Forest, more than 100 kilometres south of Berlin, one will see that the bark beetles and their larvae are causing great damage to the forest. Inside the torso of the dead can be seen small passages, which have been dug up by bark beetles.
1 3 of Germany's land is covered by forests, and statistics from 2012 show that there are 90 billion trees in Germany and 1.1 million people rely on forests for health, which is more than the entire automotive industry in Germany. In addition, forests are a mysterious existence in Germany, and many stories and legends are closely related to forests. Peter Worleburn's The Secret Life of Trees is a unique place for German forests.
Germany** says the bark beetle has destroyed vast swaths of forest, an area equivalent to 3,300 football fields. If the spread of bark beetles is not controlled, it will not be long before the problem becomes too much to deal with. However, if we want to stop the crazy erosion of bark beetles, we have to start with the problem of climate warming at the source, which shows that it is very difficult.
In the past, bark beetles can reproduce one to two generations a year, with a terrible number of tens of thousands in total, but today's warming climate has created a good environment for bark beetles to reproduce, winter will no longer become so cold, hibernating bark beetles will not be frozen to death, and they will be able to wake up from hibernation faster, and they can reproduce to three or even four generations a year. The frightening thing is that the dry climate makes the trees more fragile and simply can't secrete enough sap to repel bark beetles, which gives them the opportunity to easily kill the trees.
Nearly one-third of Germany's trees are spruce and a favorite of bark beetles. Hans-Werner Schleken of the Lepp State Forestry Office said: "Spruce trees can withstand two generations of bark beetles, but when these insects reproduce for three generations a year, the spruce can't hold on. "In addition, the current human means of fighting the bark beetle are very limited, and this objective situation has become even more critical.
However, there is also a point of view to diversify the types of forests, some of which are hundreds of hectares of forests in Germany, and to move away from this singular existence and introduce some adaptable tree species that adapt to climate change, such as red oak in the United States and larch in Japan.
However, the impact of climate warming is not limited to bark beetles, which is only a small part of the global warming problem, and the impact also includes global extinction and ecosystem imbalance, frequent climate disasters, lake disappearance, resource scarcity, drought and other major disasters.
In view of this problem, it is believed that international cooperation should be strengthened, and scientific and technological production should reasonably absorb the resources of nature; improving energy efficiency to reduce carbon emissions; Reforestation; Organic agriculture and agro-ecosystem protection can reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides, improve soil quality and yields, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture; It's everyone's job to raise awareness and protect the planet.
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