Global climate change which was until more recently considered an over rated phenomenon is today understood as a very real threat to the ecosystem of the planet. The State of California has been majorly affected by the lower levels of precipitation and soaring temperatures resulting in one of the worst droughts the state has seen in the past 50 years. Some one billion trees have been affected by the drought with 29 million already dead.
In total about 41,000 square miles of Californian forests are affected by this drought with 888 million trees taking some kind of adverse effect.
These weakened trees are not only under stress from the drought but also susceptible to attacks by the deadly dark beetles. These insects thrive in the warmer climates, infest and almost always kill these weak trees before moving on to the next ones. Dead trees make the lands around them very vulnerable to floods and wild fires making the area prone to damage to human life and property both.
CONCLUSION:
With the trees gone, the impact on the human and natural ecosystem is severe. These forests countered the carbon dioxide being released from the homes and industries in the state. A surge of greenhouses vapors would be released if the land loses these trees. Since substantial quantities of carbon are within these tree trunks, it would be catastrophic to the state’s emissions and impact the over global weather change adversely.
References:
Anderegg, W. R. L., Hicke, J. A., Fisher, R. A., Allen, C. D., Aukema, J., Bentz, B., Hood, S., Lichstein, J. W., Macalady, A. K., McDowell, N., Pan, Y., Raffa, K., Sala, A., Shaw, J. D., Stephenson, N. L., Tague, C. and Zeppel, M. (2015), Tree mortality from drought, insects, and their interactions in a changing climate. New Phytol, 208: 674–683. doi:10.1111/nph.13477
Science, Carnegie. “Tens Of Millions Of Trees In Danger From California Drought | Carnegie Institution For Science”. Carnegiescience.edu. N.p., 2016. Web. 3 Mar. 2016.
Newsweek.com,. N.p., 2016. Web. 3 Mar. 2016.
