Climate change upsets an ancient balance, felling forests

In the early spring, just as tender needles emerge on tamarack trees across Minnesota, the beetles wake up and start to eat.

At first, it is almost impossible to tell if a tamarack tree is infested. Its needles still bud to a healthy green. But tiny holes in the bark reveal where the eastern larch beetles burrowed inside. The tree might try to push the invaders out of the holes with an oozy sap-like substance called resin.

It becomes more obvious in the summer, especially if needles start to yellow early. Woodpeckers flock to the infested trees, stripping them of bark.

https://www.startribune.com/tamarack-trees-eastern-larch-beetles-minnesota-extinction-endangered-species/600233177/