Research by UC-Davis says that half of California’s vegetation is at risk of dying from global warming, reported Capital Public Radio in Sacramento. The five-year drought and heavy precipitation in 2017 show the stress trees and plants face if climate change brings higher temperatures and the increased frequency of weather extremes, said James Thorne, a research scientist at the university.
The U.S. Forest Service estimates that since 2016, 129 million trees, mostly conifers, have died throughout the state, due largely to drought and bark beetles, which decimate the weakened trees. “The dead trees continue to pose a hazard to people and critical infrastructure, mostly centered in the central and southern Sierra Nevada region of the state,” said the Forest Service. Randy Moore, a regional forester, said aerial surveys show that trees have yet to recover from the drought “and remain vulnerable to beetle attacks and increased wildfire threat.”
Thorne said that even if reductions in greenhouse gas emissions began now, a quarter of the state’s trees and plants would be climate-stressed by the end of the century, said Capitol Public Radio. The portion would double if emissions levels do not change. Southern California would be hit the hardest by climate change, said Thorne, followed by the Sierra Nevada and the Central Valley.