New analysis finds that a third runway at Heathrow would blow a hole in the UK’s ability to meet legally binding climate targets.

A new study has found that forests with a greater diversity of tree species are more resilient to extreme climate events.

Published in Nature Communications and using data from over 88,000 forest plots across the United States, the research also discovered that forests are more vulnerable when extreme weather events such as heatwaves and droughts occur simultaneously.

If global emissions continue unchecked, rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns could amplify tree pests and diseases across more than 80 per cent of North American forests within decades, jeopardizing critical carbon sinks, air quality and the forestry economy.

This is the key finding of a new UBC-led study published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution. The researchers found that insects pose the more immediate threat, with more than 60 per cent of the areas examined projected to experience 30 per cent more insect pressure by mid-century. Species like the spongy moth, already wreaking havoc in Canadian forests, could expand significantly in eastern North America by mid-century.