What You Need To Know About Forest Health And Entomologic Threats

By Daniel Moore


Forests are largely considered crucial to both animals and humans. They generally stabilize and support ecosystems, support livelihoods, play a key role in the carbon cycle and various gains. Owing to the vital roles played by forests towards healthy ecosystems, forest health and entomologic threats need to always be monitored in order to protect the ecosystems.

Currently, most forestlands are still under pressure due to pollution, expansion in agricultural practice, overexploitation, intensification, and population pressure. When this factors are combined with effects of climatic change, these forestlands are further threatened with threats from insects. All these factors affect the health of these forests thereby impairing the ability of forests to maintain ecosystems.

Among the various natural and non-natural pressures that forests faces is entomologic threats. Insects are both beneficial and equally destructive to forests. Their impact culminates into either a healthy or a dwindled and unhealthy forest. To begin with, insects present a number of benefits to forests and in keeping them healthy.

To begin with, native insects usually maintain and reduce the likely aging of trees. This essentially aids in making forests more productive apart from being agile to support healthy ecosystems. In addition, wide scale insect infestations that regularly occur will lead to the renewal of forests. Old trees are usually destroyed leaving behind fresh ones to develop even as the nutrients stored in them are released to the environment for supporting the residual trees to have healthy growth.

Large native insect infestations also support the health of forests by effectively eliminating the sick and unhealthy trees. The elimination of the sick, as well as unhealthy trees means that only the trees that are genetically superior and free of any diseases will reproduce to form the new forestlands. This leads to the development of healthy trees translating to healthy forests.

At the same time, insects also help in eliminating competition among trees, thereby making the ecosystems more productive. By eliminating or destroying aged, sick, and unhealthy trees, insects helps to reduce the unnecessary competition for the nutrients, while increasing nutrient supply to the remaining trees. Insects, more so the native ones usually help in pollinating trees. Usually, cross-pollination especially when assisted by the insects ensures that only the genetically superior trees can thrive.

Nevertheless, insects also result in other entomologic dangers to the existence and life of forests. First, insect invasions often reduce forest area by attacking the unhealthy and healthy trees. However, this can be seen as temporary since trees always regrow. The alien insects and disease pests are also threats to forests because they destroy trees, which result in challenges controlling the population. Again, the alien insects are also difficult to predict their trend.

Alien insects usually spread rapidly with the consequence being a trail of vast and extensive damages to trees. This is usually a threat in places where the insects that are invading the forests and causing disease have no existent natural enemies that aid in keeping their populations in check. The other instance, trees, and other organisms have no natural way to resist the invading insects.




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