"It is known that mountain pine beetle infestations have the potential to raise nearby air temperatures by killing off trees that provide a natural refrigerator effect for forests. Now, researchers are releasing hard numbers documenting how the pests' invasions affected a specific place."

"In a study published in Nature Geoscience, scientists at the University of Toronto and the University of California, Berkeley, reported that the beetle scourge in British Columbia raised surface temperatures in affected areas by 1 degree Celsius on average in the summer. In the worst-hit areas where provincial forests were wiped out, the summer temperature increase was several degrees higher."

Christa Marshall reports for ClimateWire November 26, 2012. [2]