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UF entomologist seeks name for beetle plague

Cindy Swirko
cindy.swirko@gvillesun.com
Dave Conser, with the Florida Forest Service, points out evidence of Southern Pine Beetles on a Loblolly Pine that was left uncut on Friday, July 1, 2016 north of Gainesville. A University of Florida forest entomology professor is running a contest to develop a name for beetle infestations linked to climate change that are killing trees worldwide. [Gainesville Sun file]

The phrase “sea level rise” is known worldwide as a consequence of climate change and the deep disruptions it is causing, which are expected to worsen.

University of Florida forest entomologist and faculty member Jiri Hulcr would like to come up with a such a universally known phrase to describe the destruction wrought by bark beetles on trees worldwide weakened by climate change.

So Hulcr is running a contest to find a name. To the winner goes the spoils — either a free registration to a bark beetle academy next year in Taiwan or a reference collection of the 40 most destructive beetles. Entries can be made at https://bit.ly/2WBZCco.

“The reality is that this is a global phenomenon as temperatures continue to rise. Droughts are striking everywhere and trees just can’t hack it anymore. Then you get bark beetles,” Hulcr said. “When I want to talk about the world’s biggest thing that is happening to forests now, I don’t have a name for it. I have to start mumbling. I think we should have a name that folks will recognize.”

Alachua County is well familiar with the tree death, and the costs of the destruction, that bark beetles can cause.

Alachua County has had serious southern pine beetle infestations in 1994-95 and in 2000-01.

In both infestations, the city of Gainesville and Alachua County created an emergency cost-sharing program to offset the price of tree removal to stem the outbreak. Still, tens of thousands of trees were lost to the beetle. Sporadic outbreaks have continued to flare up.

Dave Conser, Alachua County forester for the Florida Forest Service, said southern pine beetles are now established here but current conditions do not indicate an outbreak.

“We definitely have southern pine beetles endemic in the population now. It used to be all the entomologists here never trapped a beetle before 1994,” Conser said. “The trapping surveys we did this year indicate pretty low outbreak potentials. We have had some trees infested this year but nothing that looked close to being an outbreak status.”

Hulcr said the effects of climate change on Florida include both droughts and extreme flooding from tropical storms that experts believe will grow in strength. Both can weaken trees and make them more susceptible to disease and pests.

Planting trees closely together also has a role in a beetle infestations.

As both average and extreme temperatures rise farther north, so does the damage from beetles. The southern pine beetle can now be found boring in trees in New York, Hulcr said.

Conifers aren't the only trees being attacked by bugs. Oaks are also under siege in some corners of the world.

“Go north and it is painfully obvious. The worst places that got hit were places like Canada, the northwestern U.S. and the northeast, Russia — all over the northern hemisphere,” Hulcr said. “In Japan, Korea and around the Mediterrean, it is happening with cork oaks that people use for wine bottles. People in Portugal and Spain are having real problems with that.”

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