Over the past two decades the pine forests of Western North America have experienced major changes due to the Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic that began in 1995. Mountain Pine Beetles are insect parasites that use trees as their hosts in order to mate and lay eggs. After the larva becomes a beetle, the tree is killed and the next generation of beetles set out to find another pine tree and the cycle repeats. Environmentalists have proven the changes in the lifecycle of the pine beetle to be directly correlated with the adaptations of the Mountain Pine and climate change. Since the epidemic began the Mountain Pine Beetle is responsible for affecting millions of acres of forest in the western United States and over 44 million acres in British Columbia. (Rosner 2015) The impact that the Mountain …show more content…
Environmental scientists at Colorado State University found that Mountain Pine beetles are now able to produce twice as fast. The spring seasons are now warm enough for the pine beetle to leave their previous host and find a new one to mate inside of. Mid-way through the summer the beetle hatches and the cycle repeats again and another set of eggs are laid for the winter. This means that one summer can witness the life and death of two generations of Mountain Pine Beetles and thus killing twice as many trees in one year. (CSU, 2015) The Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic has shown the direct impacts of the warming of our planet and further proves the science behind climate change. The Mountain Pine Beetle now poses as another threat to the forests of North America and our environment. The pine beetle issue is much deeper than just having dead trees. The impacts the epidemic has had since 1995 has changed the landscape of Western North America forever and it greatly impacts communities, national forests, public lands, private lands, the lumber industry and water qualities in the