Tree Deaths Linked to Climate Change

Bug infestations like the mountain pine beetle in this lodgepole pine forest in British Columbia, Canada may be in response to a changing climate. Photo credit: Northern Forest Products Association

A healthy aspen stand in the San Juan Mountains in western Colorado is at risk as the climate changes. Photo credit: William Anderegg

Heat stress kills ponderosa pine in New Mexico. Photo credit: Craig Allen, USGS

The sudden Colorado aspen tree die-off near Fairplay, Colorado in 2009 has been linked to climate change. Photo credit: William Anderegg

Scientists seek more data to better predict climate impacts on this pinyon pine grove in New Mexico and forests elsewhere around the globe. Photo credit: Craig Allen, USGS

Drought triggered this forest die-off in Argentina in 2004. Photo credit: Thomas Kitzberger

Forests around the globe are at risk from climate change like this forest die-off in Spain because of a drought. Photo credit: Rafael Navarro-Cerrillo

Aspen, the most common tree in North America, is suffering from what scientists call sudden drought-induced death from climate change. Photo credit: Kimberly Pham

Scientists are monitoring this grove of Aspen in western Colorado to see how the trees respond to increasingly warmer temperatures. Photo credit: Kimberly Pham