Scientists Hope DNA Research Will Help Thwart Spread Of Mountain Pine Beetle

"There may be an opportunity to alter how the genetics interact and hopefully slow down the advance of the epidemic." Warmer winters have allowed the tiny beetles to flourish and spread. In British Columbia, 13 million hectares of lodgepole pine forests have been ruined in a scourge that has hit the forest industry and communities that depend on it very hard. Over time, beetle-killed timber dries out and splits, lowering its value and making it more prone to forest fires. Wafted by winds, the beetles have flown over the barrier of the Rocky Mountains in the past few years and have damaged more than 1.5 million trees in Alberta. Scientists say there is now evidence the beetles are carrying the blue stain fungus that kills the trees in jack pine forests - raising the spectre of the epidemic spreading east in Saskatchewan and beyond. ... http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2008/01/13/4770776-cp.html

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