Beetle is barely a half-inch destroyed hundreds of trees

Environment Different forests in the province of Limburg and Vlaams-Brabant get the this year extra hard to endure by the typesetter, a beetle only a half inch big. In order to solve the problem, will be hundreds of affected spruces felled should be. That reports include The Importance of Limburg.

The typesetter takes its rise in Europe to the warming, and the droughts over the last few years our country ravaged. "We have spent the last decades a lot of dry years known. Think back to the 2001, 2003, 2011 and last year. And that snowball effect ensures that the trees grow and more sensitive," says Arthur de Haeck of the Institute for Nature and Forest.

The typesetter also benefits from the fact that the spruce is not really thriving in Flanders. It is a kind of tree which mainly occurs in humid climate and in higher altitude regions. Normally you will find that not in areas influenced by the maritime climate. Now heat up the climate, however, making it more attractive to the beetle. That mainly has a preference for weakened trees."

Paringskamer
This allows the beetle under the bark to binnenboren and a paringskamer. In that room they separating a chemical substance that vrouwtjeskevers lures. "A few females can have a tree ingress and eggs under the bark. Per clutch may be as a hundred larvae occur. That be whole colonies that year after year larger. As the weakened trees got gobbled up, they move to healthy trees," says Haeck.

in the woods around Pelt and Genk and in the Meerdaalwoud in Oud-Heverlee is the Agency for Nature and Forest began with the felling of the affected spruces. In the Meerdaalwoud alone, it would go to three percent of the forest. "The appointment is in a timely manner cut down if it is clear that the trees are damaged. That must happen before the end of march. Then have the damaged trees removed."

Native species
The felled spruces should be replaced by native species. "But a lot depends on the specific soil conditions, such as the quality of the soil, the height of the groundwater and the soil profile. The credo is diversity in species, so the forest more resilient. In the past it was all on one type, and that is wrong,” concludes the Haeck.