Drones join battle against eight-toothed beetle threatening forests

In the UK, scientists are using drones and other high-tech tools to fight a tiny but dangerous beetle that threatens the country's forests. The spruce bark beetle, also known as Ips typographus, is smaller than a fingernail but has caused huge damage across Europe, killing millions of spruce trees. The UK government thought they could stop the beetle by checking imported wood at ports, but the beetles actually arrived by being blown over the English Channel by the wind.

To fight back, UK scientists have started using sniffer dogs, drones, and special cameras. Drones fly over forests and look for signs that trees are sick, such as dying leaves at the top of the trees. Sniffer dogs are trained to smell the beetles and their droppings, which helps find them in large stacks of wood. Cameras on traps take pictures and use computer programs to identify the beetles. The scientists have checked thousands of hectares of forest, which is almost as big as 7,000 football fields.

The beetle is especially dangerous because it can multiply quickly, especially when trees are stressed by things like dry weather or disease. Climate change is making the problem worse, with wetter winters and drier summers making trees weaker and easier for the beetles to attack. If the beetle spreads, it could destroy many trees and cost the UK billions of pounds. The government is working hard to keep the beetle out and protect the forests, and they are also helping landowners restore forests when trees have to be removed. It is important to keep up these efforts to save the forests for the future.