Add Colorado forests to the victims of global warming. About one-fifth of the Aspen groves in Colorado's Rocky Mountains are afflicted with Sudden Aspen Decline (SAD).
Two factors appear to be at work, both influenced by global warming. Large stands of old aspens are no longer sending out "suckers" to regenerate their groves. This may be caused by an increase in parasites, which are fluorishing in a warmer cliimate.
The phenomenon was first noticed in the San Juan mountains of southwest Colorado in 2002. The affliction has grown from 30,000 acres in 2005 to over 500,000 acres in only four years. Today, the Boston Globe picked up the story:
“It’s just rolling through the forests,’’ said Wayne Shepperd, an aspen specialist at Colorado State University, said of the aspen decline. Noting the number of other changes to western vegetation due to warmer, drier temperatures, he added: “Everything’s happening all at once.’’
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