THE dry, hot summer may have delighted beachgoers, but it has taken a heavy toll on some of Jersey’s oldest residents – its trees.
Jersey Trees for Life vice-chair Bruce Labey explained that the combination of heat, drought and disease had left many native Island trees struggling to survive.
“It’s a combination of factors,” he said. “If a tree is growing in perfect conditions and it gets a disease, it’s going to damage it, but potentially not kill it.
“But if the tree is stressed because of heat and drought, and it gets a disease on top of that – it’s like with people – they’re just not going to cope with all three at once.”
The changing climate is forcing the charity, which plants and maintains trees across the Island, to reconsider which species it recommends.
“We can say categorically that birch and rowan trees are not suitable to be planted anymore,” Mr Labey said. “It would be wrong to do that. They’re not going to survive.”
Both species are indigenous to Jersey and suited to cooler temperatures and plentiful water. However, Mr Labey said this summer had brought conditions more commonly associated with the Mediterranean.
Chestnut trees, already affected by blight and pests, have begun losing their leaves – a sign that they are dying. A fungus causes orange speckles to appear on their trunks and branches, but trees previously able to withstand it have been weakened by the heat.
Sycamores have also suffered. They often grow in single-species copses, making them vulnerable to diseases such as the fungal infection sooty bark. Mr Labey said some had been “wiped out” by the added strain of heat and drought.
However, some species have thrived. London planes “sailed through all the droughts” and were “looking happy and healthy”, he said.
Pines, evergreen oaks and other trees suited to Mediterranean conditions have also fared better.
Jersey Trees for Life will now experiment with species better suited to the climate the Island is expected to experience in future.
