![]() “They have this long proboscis and they insert it into the vascular system of the tree, they can even insert it through the bark of the tree.” They stay on the surface, but they get into nooks and crannies on the bark,” Rossell said. The spruce trees are affected the most by the acid deposition, Rossel said, but the Frasier firs are also suffering due to the effects of the adelgid. “So these mountain-top forests are retreating up the mountain and eventually there’s going to be nowhere for them to go.” Average cloud coverage altitudes are actually 30 feet higher now than they were decades ago because of warming,” Laughlin said. “Climate change is causing the cloud cover to move up slope. Climate change also plays a major role, said Andrew Laughlin, an environmental studies lecturer at UNCA. The trees at this elevation are especially vulnerable due to their dependence on cloud coverage for the majority of their moisture. ![]() These acids leach important nutrients like calcium from the soil and increase the presence of aluminum, which is toxic to plants in high levels, Rossell said. The clouds at the top of Mount Mitchell can reach the acidity of vinegar, according to North Carolina State Parks data. It’s harder for them to absorb water and nutrients.” The root hairs are not as nice and slim, they become kind of club-shaped. “So you have a combination of some corrosive impacts on the needles, but the changes in the nutrients in the soil make it harder for the plants to live there, and it changes the shape of the roots. It even falls dry out of the atmosphere,” said Irene Rossell, environmental studies professor at UNC Asheville. “The acid is in not just rain but snow and fog and mist. ![]() Up to 90 percent of these trees are dying as a result of a combination of acid rain and a microscopic non-native invasive pest, the balsam wooly adelgid.Īcid rain, or acid deposition, occurs when chemicals like nitrogen oxide and sulfur, released by burning coal, combine with the water in clouds and precipitation. Each turn on the winding road reveals a new patch of lifeless, bare trunks. One example is the road leading up to Mount Mitchell. But upon rising in elevation, the normally green forest canopy becomes interspersed with patches of gray, dead trees. When driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway, the view is of endless mountains covered with countless trees. Photo by Becca Andrews, News Staff Writerīy Becca Andrews, News Staff Writer – ![]()
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