Urban heat boosts some pest populations 200-fold, killing red maples
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 - 14:01
in Earth & Climate
New research from North Carolina State University shows that urban "heat islands" are slowly killing red maples in the southeastern United States. One factor is that researchers have found warmer temperatures increase the number of young produced by the gloomy scale insect – a significant tree pest – by 300 percent, which in turn leads to 200 times more adult gloomy scales on urban trees.