Martha Barwinsky, a forester from Winnipeg, explained that prolonged cold temperatures can positively affect the trees in the city.
In this situation she is talking about pests, many of them will not be able to survive such a cold. There are no exact data now, but the scientist is sure that soon the connection between extreme cold and extinction of many pests will be revealed.
“There has been some research done for the emerald ash borer, for example, and that research is continuing for cold hardiness of the pest,” said Barwinsky. “What we see so far from the research is that a good portion of the pest population can be killed with sustained temperatures of -34 Celsius.”
However, the temperature should also be low inside the trunk, because many pest larvae are there. Barwinsky believes that transitional periods can also make a change in the population of pests.
“I’m hoping this extreme winter will have an impact on beetle populations, but I’m looking really at what’s happening with the transition of the seasons, which will likely have a bigger impact.”