The consequences of hostilities for Ukrainian forests are becoming increasingly evident. Heavy machinery compacts the soil, disrupting water and air balance, while explosions and shelling injure trees, opening the way for pathogens and rot. Forests are littered with unexploded ordnance and chemical substances, creating a deadly threat to people and poisoning the ecosystem. Fires caused by blasts destroy vegetation and wildlife, alter the microclimate, and disrupt the biological rhythms of insects, reports Humanitarian Media Hub, citing ZN.ua.
“War only triggers a chain reaction: for several years, forests remain under pressure from pests, losing resilience and sometimes life,” the interview with Valentyna Meshkova, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, Professor, and Academician of the Forestry Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, notes.
According to her, phytophagous insects — those that feed on plants — multiply rapidly under wartime conditions. Weakened trees become easy prey, while the forest’s natural “sanitarians” — detritivores and coprophages — are under threat. Without them, the forest would turn into a dump of dead animals and wood, making natural regeneration impossible.
Changes in the microclimate of forest stands due to thinning crowns and reduced tree density accelerate pest life cycles. Their natural enemies — entomophages — respond with a delay, allowing phytophages to inflict significant damage. Affected areas become hotspots for mass insect reproduction, which later attack even healthy trees. Sanitary logging and timber treatment with insecticides remain the main protection methods, but implementing them during wartime is extremely difficult.
Read also: Spring forest planting completed in Poltava and Kharkiv regions
