As N.E. warms, tiny pests take root

[YankeyMCC]

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The voracious insects, which feed on the trees' sap, can transform century-old conifers into brittle gray skeletons in as little as four years. Hemlock Hill has lost about 350 trees in the last decade, and arboretum officials estimate that almost all of the more than 1,500 trees that remain have some level of infestation.
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Scientists were confident that Mother Nature had the answer to protecting the woods further north: the cold. Hemlock woolly adelgids die if hit with even a short blast of northern New England's frigid winter temperatures.

But it does not get as cold as it used to in New England and the rest of the world. And as temperatures continue to rise, researchers believe the tiny adelgid and dozens of other pests could dramatically expand their range and abundance.
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At first, Parker's experiments were reassuring. Most bugs died when hit with even a few hours of minus 13 degrees . It almost always got colder than that for at least one winter night in much of northern Vermont, New Hampshire, and inland Maine. But that was before scientists realized how fast winters were warming.
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Minimum temperatures are critical gatekeepers in the natural world because they decide which crops and flowers survive the winter. Low winter temperatures keep populations of pests and disease hosts in check and halt their northern expansion.

And those minimums are climbing. Average global minimum temperatures have risen about 2 degrees since 1950, according to the National Climatic Data Center, with much of that warming taking place since 1970. That may not sound like much, but it could be enough to push a species over its tipping point.
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http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/06/10/as_ne_warms_tiny_pests_take_root/?page=1

also: http://www.boston.com/news/specials/climate_change

[skids]

1. One of the reasons I like NE...

...the cold kills the bugs once a year. Less so now, I guess. I'd hate to be living where I used to -- those woods were too full of crawlies as it was, and they were very hard to keep out of the house.