The National Wildlife Federation will host a Rise Of The Insects, Global Warming Picks A Winner roundtable discussion in Harrisburg on August 21 to coincide with the release of a new report: Ticked Off: Climate Change and the Outdoor Experience.

While climate change has harmed many wildlife species, warmer temperatures are benefitting noxious insect pests, facilitating their spread and abundance, and harming our health and outdoor experience.  Twenty-five years ago, Lyme disease was relatively unknown. 

Today, we all know someone with Lyme disease, and it has reached near epidemic proportions.  Warmer winters are benefitting the hemlock wooly adelgid, a small aphid-like insect that is decimating Pennsylvania’s state tree, the hemlock.  Our state fish, the brook trout, is closely associated with hemlocks, which provide important shade during the summer.

So as the hemlocks go, so go our brook trout.  Global warming is helping the Asian tiger mosquito to spread into southeast Pennsylvania and the Harrisburg area, carrying with it more than 30 viruses, including west Nile, eastern equine encephalitis and dengue, all of which pose serious threats to human health.

Panelists will discuss trends in insect populations, how global warming will affect their abundance and range, the health implications, and actions we can take to reduce their effect on our pets, wildlife, and us.

The panelists include: Tom Smith, West Nile Virus Program Coordinator, Penn State Cooperative Extension, Jacqui Hakim, Co-Owner of Pocono Tick & Skeeter Control and Ed Perry, biologist, National Wildlife Federation.

The program will be held at the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg, 1280 Clover Lane starting at 5:00 p.m.

NewsClips:

PA Reports Year’s First West Nile Case

Mosquitoes Test Positive For West Nile In Harrisburg

New Virus Spread By Mosquitoes Threatens U.S.

DEP Sprays To Control Black Flies In 34 Counties

8/11/2014