Despite being smaller than a grain of rice, the mountain pine beetle has wrought havoc across the forests of western North America via the largest insect outbreak in recorded history. More than 100,000 infested trees fell daily across the United States alone. But for Professor Diana Six, the true culprits are not the beetles, but climate change-linked droughts that sap the trees’ insect defenses. Now, she’s on a personal and scientific journey to show that a hopeful future for pine forests in the West depends on us appreciating the deep diversity among the trees themselves.
To combat this epidemic, Professor Diana Six has made it her mission to crack the genetic code of the pine tree. She hopes that studying the relationship between the mountain pine beetle and the trees they kill will provide us with valuable insight into the future of our forests. In this short film made at the International Wildlife Film Festival Filmmaker Labs, Professor Six walks among the trees and shares her thoughts on why humans can do more to counteract the effects of climate change.
A film by Chris O’Flaherty (Vimeo), Todd Amacker (Instagram), Shireen Rahimi, Olivia Schmidt (Instagram), and Tim Treuer (Instagram). Music by New West Studios and art by Eric Linton. Special thanks to the University of Montana, WWF, Canon USA, and Day's Edge Productions. Generously funded by WWF and Tangled Bank Studios.
Негізгі бет The Tiny Bug Destroying North American Forests--or is it?
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