Experts are baffled by the death of pine trees in Finland August 26, 2024

Illustrative image. Image credit: Pexels

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Experts are baffled by the death of pine trees in Finland

A staggering number of dead pine trees have been recorded in southern Finland this summer, and researchers have linked the phenomenon to climate change, they told AFP on Friday.

More than 1,350 patches of dead pine trees have been recorded in south-west Finland since April when researchers began collecting observations from the public.

‘Every day we receive more in our mapping service,’ Risto Kalliola, a geography professor at the University of Turku, told AFP.

He described the phenomenon as a ‘local mass death of pine fragments’.

The most affected areas were rocky coastal areas with barren soil easily exposed to drought, he said.

Brown clusters of dead pine trees started appearing suddenly along the southern coast of Finland a few years ago, and researchers are now trying to find out the cause of the phenomenon.

‘Something is happening in our nature and we have to take it seriously,’ said Kalliola.

Similar pine tree deaths have also occurred in other northern European countries, including neighboring Sweden.

‘What's new in Finland is that this phenomenon has started to be common very recently,’ he said.

He believes that several factors may be causing the local die-off, such as insect pests and fungal diseases - all exacerbated by global warming.

‘During hot summers with heatwaves and weeks without rain, trees growing in vulnerable places begin to suffer and their ability to defend themselves against pathogens weakens,’ he said.

Kalliola said that the exceptionally hot summer in Finland this year stressed the trees.

‘The less available water in the soil the trees can suck up with their roots, the less they can resist heatwaves and drought,’ he said.

ank/po/fg