Scientists Say Aspens Are Dying Out West

[Judi Lynn]

Scientists Say Aspens Are Dying Out West
By CHASE SQUIRES
Associated Press Writer

September 14, 2006, 1:58 PM EDT


DENVER -- Something is killing the aspen trees of the Rocky Mountain West.

Or so it seems to some scientists, who say the slender, white-bark trees that paint the hills gold every autumn are dying, leaving bald patches across the Rockies. They are scrambling to figure out what's happening.
(snip)

Aspen grow differently than other tree species. Rather than spreading through seeds, aspens send out shoots, called suckers, from giant, interconnected root systems. Each stand, or "clone" system, can live hundreds of years. A tree may die, but beneath the soil, the root sends out fresh shoots, and the cycle begins again.

What has Wardle and others concerned is that stands with dying trees do not seem to have the vigor they normally have in sending out shoots to replace old trees -- perhaps an indication that years of drought have inflicted deep damage.
(snip/...)

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-dying-aspens,0,4233910.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[sweetheart]

1. Water

Aspens, "populus tremula" is a tree that likes wet areas, streams, creeks, burns and sheltered wet hollows.

I'd wager the climate change issue, of temperature, dryness in soil and air, and rainwater table levels are at work.

[XemaSab]

17. That's Populus tremuloides to you, bub.

n/t

[DeepModem Mom]

2. There's something profound to be said here, Judi Lynn --

but I, sadly, don't know what it is.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Flashback to patriot Scooter Libby's letter to Judy Miller, in the slammer

"You went into jail in the summer," wrote Libby. "It is fall now … Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work—and life."

http://www.slate.com/id/2128205/

On edit:

Hopefully, with a miracle, in spite of right-wing politicians' refusal to enforce pollution controls, the Aspens WILL somehow outlast them all.

[DeepModem Mom]

10. Yes. And now the Aspens are dying. nt

[daleo]

27. They are dying of shame, from being mentioned by Libby

And being compared to Judy Miller. A tree can only take so much.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. oh dear. what will Judy Miller ever do now?

But, there IS NO GLOBAL WARMING! Because we say so, that's why.

[MADem]

7. Could this be the beginning of the end for the GOP?? NT

[ChairmanAgnostic]

12. as we know and hate it, yes.

remember, the GOP was the revolutionary party 140 yrs ago. Lincoln saw our country through incredibly tough times. Today's GOP creates incredibly tuogh times.
the GOP of 40 yrs ago created the EPA, fixed Social security and made peace with the USSR.
today's GOP, hell, they want to destroy everything from the past.

[Olney Blue]

15. I think it would be safe to surmise that Lincoln would not recogize

his party now.

[AnneD]

26. Lincoln's knickname was .......

Honest Abe. The RNC would have tried to get another, more Republican candidate to run against him and fund his campaign. KKKRove would have started a whisper/smear campaign about his loyalties because of his wife's Southern heritage (oh, wait, they did that-never mind), her spending habits, the fact he was a trial lawyer, etc......

[leftchick]

4. No Doubt more of Global Warming's Disastrous effects

<snip>

Former vice president Al Gore is back in the news with the release of his acclaimed documentary on warming, An Inconvenient Truth. And President Bush — who has been criticized by environmental groups that say he has been slow to acknowledge the dangers posed by warming — said last week that "people in our country are rightly concerned about greenhouse gases and the environment."

Alaska is important in measuring the effect of global warming on the USA because what happens here soon will be felt in the Lower 48 states, say experts such as Robert Corell, a senior fellow at the American Meteorological Society.

The spruce budworm, aspen leaf miner and the spruce bark beetle, pests once kept in check by winter cold, are flourishing here. Statewide, insect outbreaks have killed more than 4 million acres of forest in a decade and a half, says John Morton, a biologist at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in Soldotna.

Fires, long an integral part of the forest ecology here, are burning millions of acres as summers get longer and hotter, says Scott Rupp, a University of Alaska-Fairbanks professor of forestry. And with each wave of fires, trees have a harder time coming back in the increasingly warm and dry landscape.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/2006-05-29-alaska-globalwarming_x.htm

[Lisa]

5. "they turn in clusters" ... they also die in clusters!

There's a stand by my place that isn't doing so well. It's been denuded by tent caterpillars early in the growing season for the past 3 years, and each time it takes longer to come back.

Disturbing symbolism, isn't it.

[denverbill]

8. Unfortunately, the lodgepole pines are dying out too.

The wife and I took a train trip from Denver to Grand Junction. There are dying pines everywhere in large numbers. The problem is the pine bark beetle. Normally, cold winters kill them off and slow their spread, but the last few years the winters haven't been cold enough to kill them, so many, many pines are dying in the mountains. Thank you global warming.

[LiberalEsto]

9. White birches in Maine

seem to be in trouble too.
Driving up Rt. 95 from New Hampshire to Bangor, you can see the "ghosts" of many dead or dying white birches along the road. Hardly any healthy-looking ones can be seen.

There's also a Spanish Moss-like pale green growth that is invading and killing fir trees. The dead ones are a horrible sight.

[brokensymmetry]

11. Enjoy the remaining natural beauty while you can.

It won't last much longer.

I think future generations will curse us.
We'll deserve it.

[Raster]

14. If there are future generations. The Lady Terra may decide the human

species is invasive and destructive and rid herself of us.

[Tesha]

24. No, it'll just be different.

Life will go on, it just won't be the life forms we've come
to know and recognize.

For some of you, it'll mean cactus and other desert forms
replacing deciduous forests. Here in New England, when the
Gulf Stream (thermohaline circulation) stops, we'll start
to resemble arctic tundra after a few years of looking like
the Carolinas.

Many species will die because they can't adapt or migrate
fast enough (and many humans may be among the dead).

But life of some sort will go on.

Tesha

[TheCentepedeShoes]

13. Damn, this is bad

The last serious vacation we took was when we flew from FL to visit CO and northern NM in late September, 1998. The trees were in full color and it was awesome.

[feistydem]

16. I am heading up to the mountains this weekend to photograph the aspens

I just had to remove one that died on my property, but later this month I am replacing it with a new stand. I refuse to give up. To hell with all of the golf courses popping up around Colorado. I need the aspens, pine trees and wildflowers that make Colorado so special.

Hopefully we'll get a really cold, snowy winter here so the pests that are devouring our trees will freeze and the drought that is drying them up will quench their thirst and reverse the sad course they seem to be on.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

19. I haven't seen them yet...

I wish you success, Feistydem. Thanks for caring! :yourock:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

18. Oh no!

:cry:

[kestrel91316]

20. Too warm? Too dry? Some new pest gaining a foothold like the

pine bark beetle in the far north?

Who the hell knows?????

Too much of this sort of thing going on, and I am afraid the time is WAAAYYYYYY past where we can do a damned thing about it. We are toast, and we are working overtime to take the rest of life on earth with us.

[texpatriot2004]

21. I hope they figure out why and how to save the Aspens soon...

BTW interesting photos for this post ;-)

[bhikkhu]

22. The world's largest living organism is the aspen grove

I read somewhere. They are connected throught their root systems, which form the nucleus of a massive living thing, of which we see mainly the trunks and leaves.

Just a sad note.

[aaronbees]

23. Old trees have many tales to tell

Unfortunately, this may be one of the saddest tales of all. :(

[Robb]

25. Here's a nice snapshot

I took this last week, the first little tuft of color change around here.
It makes me happy. This news, not so much.