– It is very special what we see in the Finnmark, ” says Ole Petter Vindstad, a researcher at the University of Tromsø.
Butterfly-larvae, called lauvmakk in Northern Norway, has already destroyed 1/4 of the birches in the county of Finnmark. 10.000 square miles of birch forests in Norway, Sweden and Finland is attacked, and much of the forest is dead.
in The past two years lauvmakken frostmåler eaten greedy on vierkrattet on the varanger peninsula.
As large areas of broken willow thickets have not, the scientists seen before.
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Much of the vierkrattet outside of Vadsø is withered and dead. The sinner is frostmålerlarven.
Photo: Sidsel Vik Started the experiment
The great devastation led to that researchers at the University of Tromsø and the County governor of Troms and Finnmark started in an experiment.
Early in the spring, they set out a hundred bomullsposer on vierkvister and bjørkekvister in an area outside of Vadsø.
– We did not know about the frostmåleren be able to lay eggs directly on the vier and if it was able to implement the whole larvestadiet its just by eating in vierblader, says Ole Petter Vindstad.
When bomullsposene was collected in the late summer, they were full of frostmålerlarver.
– the Experiment of our shows that frostmåleren does not rely on birch to replicate itself, ” says Vindstad.
Researcher at the University, Ole Petter Vindstad, has led the research project on frostmåler in East-Finnmark.
Photo: NRK
varanger peninsula has endless areas of krattskog, and fylkesskogmester Helge Molvig fear that much may die out.
– When frostmåleren just as easily choose the devote that birch to lay eggs and eat, have the huge opportunity to develop themselves, ” said Molvig.
Fylkesskogmester Helge Molvig is concerned about the spread of nattsommerfugl that provides great krattskogdød on the varanger peninsula.
Photo: Sidsel Vik Major consequences for animal and bird life
In the research area in Vadsø are willow thickets and bjørkekratt only form of høytvoksende vegetation. If large parts of these krattene dies out, it becomes critical for the birds and animals in the area, ” says Ole Petter Vindstad.
Krattene is grazing for grouse and elk, and they are breeding places for a lot of bird. Vierkrattene are oases on the plateau, and these areas will disappear if the underbrush dies, ” says Vindstad.
the Scientist fear that lauvmakken to spread even further into on the varanger peninsula, especially in the river valleys where there are extensive areas of scrub.
the Forest is destroyed by lauvmakk, here from Seidafjellet in Finnmark.
Photo: Eilif Andreas Aslaksen / NRK Believe the cause is climate change
Small frostmåler is really a southern målerart. Ole Petter Vindstad says it is reasonable to believe that there is climate change that makes that frostmålerarten thrive in the cool area in the northeast.
It is not good news for fylkesskogmester Helge Molvig.
We hope the research can give us good advice, so we can maintain the forest and keep frostmåleren in chess, ” says Molvig.
Research on frostmåleren is a part of a larger monitoring program for the arctic tundra, but Ole Petter Vindstad says it is difficult to do something with big larveangrep in nature.
What we can do in the first place is to help the management to say something about the amount and where the biggest attacks are, says researcher Ole Petter Vindstad.
Lauvmakken has done great damage in Finnmark county, and is considered as a clear klimakonsekvens.
Photo: Ole Petter Vindstad / the Norwegian Arctic University/University Read also: the Larvae that killed the forest, can destroy fjellnaturen also Read also: – Too little research on the combating of lauvmakk
