Protecting the trees of Christmas future

That tiny beetle, which is decimating the certain populations of pine trees, has led chemists to develop new, more effective control methods that could help save these economically and environmentally important trees, it added.

In the article, C&EN Associate Editor Rachel Petkewich points out that the mountain pine beetle has killed millions of acres of pine trees. About the size of a grain of rice, the beetles damage trees by boring into bark and depositing their eggs. Dead trees also pose a forest fire risk, the article notes.

Scientists now are fighting back with a combination of chemistry and forestry management techniques. The management techniques involve removing infected trees, diversifying tree species, monitoring beetle populations, and thinning forests in advance of an outbreak. Researchers are also experimenting with chemical protection and control methods using bug-repelling plant hormones and insecticides, according to the article.-American Chemical Society