FALCON POWERS – This summer, southern Finland has witnessed the phenomenon of a large number of pine trees dying, which researchers believe is linked to climate change, according to what they told the AFP news agency on Friday.
More than 1,350 pine trees have been observed dying in southwestern Finland since April, when researchers began collecting observations from the local population.
In an interview with AFP, Risto Kalliola, a professor of geography at the University of Turku, said: “We receive new observations every day in the university’s mapping department.”
According to the researcher, this phenomenon is a “massive local mortality of pine trees.” The most affected areas are the rocky coastal regions where the barren soil is subject to drought.
Groups of brown-colored pine trees have suddenly started appearing along the southern coast of Finland in recent years, a phenomenon that researchers are currently trying to find the underlying cause of.
Kalliola said: “There is something happening in our nature and we need to take it seriously.” Similar cases of pine tree mortality have been recorded in other Nordic countries, including neighboring Sweden.
However, what is new in Finland, according to the professor, is that “this phenomenon has started to spread recently.”
The researcher pointed to several factors that may be the cause of this local tree mortality, such as harmful insects and fungal diseases that have increased due to climate change.
Kalliola said: “During the hot summer seasons with heat waves and weeks without rain, the trees growing in weak areas begin to suffer and lose their ability to defend themselves against pathogens.”
He noted that the exceptionally hot summer Finland experienced this year put pressure on the trees.
He said regretfully: “The less water in the soil that the trees can absorb through their roots, the less they can tolerate heat waves and drought.”
