Start your weekend off right with the latest edition of Forest Digest!

Here is this week’s news in trees:

• “Urban heat boosts some pest populations 200-fold, killing red maples” — Phys.Org
  Some invasive species like it hot — especially the gloomy scale insect. A study from North Carolina State University explains that the bug reproduces at an incredibly elevated rate in warmer temperatures. This implies that there are many more gloomy scales preying on urban trees, like the red maple.
• “Size and Age of Plants Impact Their Productivity More Than Climate” — ENN
  Age before climate! A University of Arizona study of forests from around the world indicates that a plant’s age and size have more influence over its productivity than do temperature and rainfall.



• “India’s forest cover is on the up – but are the numbers too good to be true?” — The Guardian
  India’s recently-released Stare of the Forest Report for 2013 indicates that forest cover in the country has risen 2,266 square miles. However, researchers and foresters are skeptical about the seemingly-good news.
• “Forest Rights Offer Major Opportunity to Counter Climate Change” — Thomson Reuters Foundation/Inter Press Service
  Research from the World Resources Institute and the Rights and Resources Institute suggests that governments and private forest owners who do not address deforestation on their lands are degrading the environment. The study advocates for these stakeholders to strengthen community forest rights.
• “This invasive plant is swallowing the U.S. at the rate of 50,000 baseball fields per year” — TreeHugger
  Meet kudzu: a plant that overpowers trees with its leaf covering, grows one foot per day, has spread across the Southeast at a rate of 50,000 baseball fields annually, and can only be stopped by goats.
• “George Harrison Memorial Tree killed … by beetles; replanting due” — The LA Times
  George Harrison can’t escape the beetles…in any sense of the word. A pine tree planted in Los Angeles in the guitarist’s honor has been devastated by bark and ladybug beetles that harm many of the area’s trees.
• “Cuba looks to mangroves to fend off rising seas” — Phys.Org
  Mangroves to the rescue! Cuba plans to utilize the tree to block rising waters on the southern coast. However, decades of logging and deforestation have weakened the mangrove’s vitality.
• “Emerald Ash Borer Wiping Out Kentucky Trees” — National Association of State Foresters
  Trees across Kentucky are falling victim to the emerald ash borer. Over the past five years, the invasive beetle has killed some 25 million trees.
• “The 5 Worst Invasive Species in the Florida Everglades” — TIME Magazine
  The Everglades host more invasive plants and animals than most other places in the United States. Meet Florida’s most wanted species in this video.