A few weeks ago, we told you about the Emerald ash borers, which have crossed the Mississippi River for the first time and have infected trees in Minnesota. Recently, we also learned that a research team from the University of Alberta in Canada has discovered that mountain pine beetles have invaded jack pine forests in Alberta. According to Science Daily, this opens up the possibility for an infestation that could sweep eastward, toward the Atlantic Ocean.
Tree biologists and geneticists on the team revealed that the mountain pine beetle jumped species from its main host tree, the lodgepole pine, to the jack pine as they spread east from British Columbia. Jack pines are very common tree in the boreal forests of Canada. Those forests stretch from Alberta to the Maritime provinces.
Mountain pine beetles are very destructive, despite their miniscule size. Because they spread by flying with the aid of wind currents, researchers currently cannot estimate how quickly they will continue to spread eastward.
You can learn more about the mountain pine beetle issue in Canada at Science Daily.
Image Courtesy of the Associated Press via Cbc.ca.