Sounds like chemical poisoning, not the weather.

It was my thought at coming across the first incident to question this, but seeing examples spread over miles--with no connection between sites--it's inconceivable. A chemical culprit at this scale would have a hard time killing without damage bleeding to adjacent plants. What I'm talking about is individual plants in widely spread pockets. What's adjacent (other than the dead plants themselves) is untouched. It seems to be mainly whole, mature trees. It's all so sudden... within a week's time. I can't conceive of a human cause, intentional or accidental. No one would have such a motive or the the means to pull it off. It's got to be a natural phenomenon of some sort.

In this type of situation use the search engine to be a detective. First online search should be for the telephone number of the County Extension Office located in the county where your mother resides. Easily found. Hopefully you will receive a satisfactory answer there. Give it a try.

Then, an online search for arborists in that county. Make several cold calls to see what they have to say.

Last idea, which is where I also turn for reliable answers, search for golf courses in the same county. Perhaps there are a few located near the places you observed the problem. Try to reach several golf course superintendents. If the situation is as serious as you describe they may be your best resource.

Were these trees all coppiced or 'limbed up' yard?

Now that made me laugh - not spewing what I'm drinking over the keyboard as some on HT admit to being wont to do, but laugh all the same.

If yard was on the West Coast rather than in his mother's retirement village in Florida, I might think Sudden Oak Death (caused by the plant pathogen Phytophthera Ramorum).

Maybe the orange trees are dying from Citrus Greening...?

Here is a link that might be useful: Citrus Greening

I know how I can research it so that's not really my question. The phenomenon is only a few days running and it's not "sudden oak death." It's sudden oak, orange, pine, azalea, etc. And no, Ink, the trees are not one's that have been fussed with. They're just trees that have sat ignored for 50 (or so) years and then they all got together and drank cyanide Kool-Aid in a suicide pact last Sunday. I was wondering if it's just here or if people in other areas are seeing anything like this. I guess not.

Yard, I googled and found this on youtube. Is this what you're seeing?

Here is a link that might be useful: Orlando Trees Dying

Maybe a little "yes" but more no." It would have been nice if the guy making the video aimed the camera up at the foliage. From what I could surmise, most of those trees were alive and had foliage and normal looking bark. The one tree with missing bark looked troubled. His lemon was a goner. For the others, it seemed like maybe the owner had never inspected bark before and not realized it's normal to have shedding, flaking, cork-like parts. His comment that "It's happening all over town." seemed noteworthy. He'd be more likely to make that comment based on brown foliage seen from a distance rather than a bark inspection made close-up.

He reminded me that not only did we have a mild winter, but a very dry past several months. That seems potentially significant.

The parts that seemed similar though was the suddenness. He didn't say how long he was gone but he said something about he was gone for awhile and when he came back and that's what he saw.

He did focus on the bark but he did show one of the citrus trees and the foliage still looked good but the bark was terrible.

Perhaps it was the one citrus tree that got hit hard though that prompted him look at the other trees.

I did notice that the ground seemed really bare. I didn't notice grass or ground cover, perhaps I just missed that.

Not seeing leaves on a tree would be quite noticeable. Do you think perhaps this is how it started? Did you happen to take notice up close of the bark especially when the leaflessness was so apparent?

I've never posted on youtube but could you post a question to him regarding what else he may have found out since then. Being that you said you noticed this recently and the clip was new is scary. I don't live in Florida but this would be awful in so very many ways.

I've got a DB in Orlando. I'm going to email him the video and see what he has to say.

What is the basis for saying these trees all turned brown in one week's time? Did you personally see it transpire in one week for all these various trees, or is your information second hand? It would be a remarkable situation if all the tree deaths(?) are in fact deaths and somehow linked. Even Sudden Oak Death syndrome doesn't kill so quickly, and dying foliage on live oaks here in the SF Bay Area typically exhibits as patchy browning of foliage over several months.. on the other hand, tree and shrub deaths from other fungal soil borne diseases rather than Goliath fungal diseases can quickly kill, such as Verticillum. Typically a disease would not kill so many different species in the same way. It it is an observed phenomenon across the area, as Nandina points out, there would be some initial reports and investigations. Local reports of palm deaths by interested amateurs were sufficient to search for the potentially devastating red palm weavil pest in southern California after they were spotted killing palms in both Tijuana and Laguna Beach. Global climate change could be a factor, but more likely imported infected palms and too lax border inspections are the main cause. A warmer than normal winter after a killing freeze that has stressed plants could be a factor. On the other hand, Florida often seems fertile ground for rapid spread of plant diseases, with Lethal Yellowing just one.

Like everyone else, I'm speculating as to cause, but as Bahia points out, to kill multiple, varied species in a short period of time is not likely to be pathogenic. I can't entertain the global warming concept as being related. We're still in the realm of habitable normal. With that, I'll croak before the trees. At this time, I'm leaning toward a correlation to high average temperature contrast between two consecutive winters... and even more, toward a lengthy winter with virtually no rain. I'd say this was our "nicest," driest winter... a tourist's delight actually.

My observations about the tree and plant death are first-hand. My mom lives nearby and I'm usually over there at least once per week. Also, I live nearby. When I'm there, I don't examine the neighborhood looking for strange phenomenon and don't think that much about a dead tree. But when I walked down to see it, I was shocked that there were other dead trees and plants. It IS remarkable! To find many more quickly afterward is alarming.

The following pics are the ones that came out the best. Many others were of distant shots so not that easy to see the issue clearly. Of the 42 pictures I took, only about 1/2 dozen were duplicates. So that's about 3 dozen trees in a rural rectangular area approximately 1/4 mile x 1 mile. All but the last photo is the same general area. (I mentioned earlier, I noticed dead trees in other areas while out and about recently.) The first photo is where I first noticed multiple dead plants.

{{gwi:29664}}

Next picture looks at same site from opposite direction:

{{gwi:29666}}

Next pic. 1 block away, private residence (she also had a fresh dead 30' Sabal palm):

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about 80' away from cedars @ different private redisence:

{{gwi:29670}}

another part of that same yard (left dead tree) and in neighboring yard beyond (right dead tree)...just beyond the right dead tree and out of view was a third dead tree...a different kind of oak:

{{gwi:29671}}

Within 1/2 mile two trees opposite sides of drainage creek:

{{gwi:29672}}

There are 3 large dread trees in this grouping:

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Another shot of same grouping:

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Another one in someone's back yard:

{{gwi:29675}}

In another part of town where I just happened to be, here are two large oaks in two different yards:

{{gwi:29676}}

Another phenomenon that I noticed was lots of this... dead branch tips, helter skelter. In some cases it was plentiful and looked like the beginning of whole tree death. I also noticed sickly colored trees that has me questioning if there are a good many more trees yet to succumb:

{{gwi:29677}}

Yardvaark, I was actually just telling my husband that if it were aerial chemical drift, you would be seeing tip burn as well as whole tree deaths...but from the look of that last pic, this looks more like something in the water table, because it's two distinct patches rather than a scattering across the open side of the tree. that says roots, and with the way Florida soil is, you get lots of pockets in it.

image it like this and see if it makes sense: if you have a chemical contaminant getting into the ground water from multiple sources, and then moving with the surface level flows, rather than spreading widely from a single source, you might see something like this.

because it just seems to be trees and larger shrubs, that also argues for groundwater. something that's only affecting things with deep enough roots to reach whatever it is.

we'd need mapping to track it, I think. when was the date you first saw it? when was the last date you remember NOT seeing it?

Mairenn, (I see you're from my favorite state!... former Atlanta resident here.) The distribution of death is such that I can't accept a chemical theory. By air, nothing could be so precise. By water table, thousands of nearby and adjacent seemingly healthy trees cannot explain escaping demise. In the immediate area of the first photo, there were 3 dead shrubs (of 2 species) and a couple more in death throws. So I can't declare that shrubs have immunity to whatever it is. On my exploratory drive, however, I didn't look for dying shrubs and focused only on dying trees.

Orange trees here seem to mature and then not too much later begin a slow, hideous decline. A large, old one near me that looked pretty good was regrowth of the rootstock (EXTREMELY sour) after a long ago freeze (I was told by owner.) It seemed to escape the slow decline that's common to oranges. Until recently it had plenty of green on it and then I noticed 3 or 4 weeks ago that it was suddenly flat dead. My immediate thought was that it had been intentionally killed. (No evidence and I'm not thinking of motive, just "what is.") However, I noticed no sign of herbicide effect in the vicinity. I guess this was really my first observance of the strange phenomenon, but at the time, I didn't know it. It was a week or two later that I saw the plants at my mom's club house. And still didn't become suspicious like now.

So I guess other places are not experiencing this strange occurrence.

Early next week, I'll call the county agent, but this is new so not expecting they will know much.

Let us know what your county agent has to say.

Some nutcase in Alabama deliberately poisoned live oaks on the Auburn University campus. I'm sure there are more like him around the country.

Here is a link that might be useful: Auburn Univ. live oaks poisoned

>Were these trees all coppiced or 'limbed up' yard?

*choke*

SOD reached Texas more than 5 years ago and took out all my parents' oaks, eventually.

Also, last summer was so dry and hot in Texas that it cooked a bunch of plants to a crisp that had done just fine for years and years. If FL had a similar summer, that would account for it. Any tree that was even slightly stressed died.

Yaardvaark, this is scary. I worry for the future of my grandchildren. Totally different, but equally odd and disturbing, this has been a weird spring here in Delaware. No plant death to speak of, but plenty of plant confusion. We basically had no winter, then an incredibly warm March, and lots of plants started growing too early. Garden tour events normally planned for May found that the plants were already all bloomed out. My daffodils were in a race to the finish. Now, of course, the world can survive without daffodils, but not without trees and wheat and corn and rice and oranges and....

I'm not paranoid by nature, but this is most worrisome.
Christine

Some of the trees were in wooded areas (pruned by nature) and some in yards where they were limbed as as is typical. There's nothing unusual about their pruning treatment.

Is is completely NORMAL for there to be wide-ranging, record-setting weather. It happens all the time relative to the big picture. Neither the hottest nor coldest day on earth has yet occurred; it will eventually come. It's normal for there to be tidal waves, flooding rains, baking drought, tornadoes, hurricanes and firestorms. It's just part of living on Earth. In spite of all the catastrophes, plants and animals (including humans) survive. So, Christine, don't worry. Common sense will get everyone through the difficulties... whether they like it or not! If you want to worry, worry instead about what nasty thing your government will do to you. It's much more likely to have a direct impact.

The count extension office arborist that I need to speak to is out of the office until Wednesday, so on hold with that until then.

All this speculation! Has it dawned on anyone to ask a search engine like Bing this simple question...What is killing the trees in Orlando, FL? Try it.

Yes, Yarkvaark, these extremes are a part of the normal global way of things, but there are TOO MANY PEOPLE now and the balance to support all of us is precarious. I know this is now way too off topic, so I will leave it here. BTW, I enjoy reading your caring and considered responses on this forum.
Christine

AnnieGolden/Christine:

If you enjoy reading "caring and considerate" responses you should consider injecting some of those elements into the comments you leave here for others to read.

Say, for DIY_GUY... in case that's not universally obvious.

Karin L

Since I hadn't heard from the forester with the county agent office, I made another call and was told that it was NEXT Wednesday that he will return. So I wait until then.

While out and about today, I passed several more areas with patches of dead and dying trees. Two areas had 8 and 10 trees respectively. Trees around them seem normal. So it is these odd patches of dead trees sprinkled across the region of otherwise normal seeming trees.

At my pictures above, where I say, "There are 3 large dread trees in this grouping" having just passed by that area again, I amend the number to 4. All trees in that front yard group are dead or dying. I would not care for their upcoming chain saw bill!

>Is is completely NORMAL for there to be wide-ranging, record-setting weather. It happens all the time relative to the big picture.

Yup, and when they happen, massive die-offs of stressed plants follow. Especially if there has been a number of years of milder weather, when they can skate by for years.

When I lived in NM, there was a huge die off of pinyon pines. Part of this was natural--there had been a lot of overgrowth during wet years, followed by massive beetle infestation of stressed plants during a series of very dry years. Part wasn't--this occurred where wildfires were contained and people didn't thin out overgrowth manually. Most of my neighbors lost dozens of trees. I didn't water, but I didn't lose one because my lot had been properly managed and the trees were all healthy.

Christine, there are not "too many people now" causing...whatever it is you think is being caused. That's sheer silliness. You can read the same hysteria in books going back to the 1800s. Wasn't true then, isn't true now, and world population will peak in the next 40 years and afterward will decrease, with no bottom end in sight. So in a century, some people will be hysterical about the future extinction of the human race.

Oh, except for the militant greenies. They'll be celebrating it. Men like David Shearman--who is lauded in international circles--are already declaring the party line openly, while others quietly maintain that it doesn't matter if data are falsified and climate change invented as long as the results--a depressed, controlled economy resulting in less consumption and fewer births--are in line with their goals. (All it takes is a basic grasp of thermodynamics to see through the CO2-based climate predictions. No "correction" of old data needed.)

Who you really need to be afraid of, if you are a caring person, are the tens of thousands of people in the US who use natural events for blatantly fearmongering to try to get people to side with positions such as, oh, that humanitarian crises in Africa, the Caribbean, and South America should be seen with stern indifference as a needed correction to "overpopulation," and that doing anything but standing by and callously watching millions of people die is misguided and even destructive. They really don't want you to see such events as they really are--the result of repressive governments and societies and backwards economies and crappy traditional agriculture, that should be met with compassion and generosity and an investment in correcting the fundamental structural causes of such severe want.

Kill the babies, save the whales, after all! If they get their way, Christine, you won't have to worry about your grandchildren. Because you won't be allowed to have any.

Here is a link that might be useful: The true frace of

I didn't hear anything from my DB in Orlando about this, but I found a continuation from the poster in Orlando on youtube. She seems to be getting some help but not a lot.

Perhaps the trees were extremely stressed with the weather and diseases are rearing their ugly head?

Here is a link that might be useful: Dead Trees Dying continued

Somewhat reminiscent of the mountain pine beetle damage here in BC.

Karin L

Per the recent video about trees dying in the Orlando area, no doubt the claim that tree death is happening generally in the area is true. My observation is corroborating that. But some of the lady's other comments seem about as scientific as those about male performance enhancement supplements.

It's not outside of normal to have trees dying anytime and all the time... here and there. What's unusual about this is that tucked in between thousands of otherwise normal seeming trees, are pockets of multiple trees suddenly dying in close proximity. In the photo above with the 3 (now 4) dying oaks, the guy is losing nearly his entire front yard. I see one other tree closer to the house, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if the next time I drive by I see that it has turned brown, too. The other unusual feature is that it is cross species. Though mainly Oak, I see as well: Pine, Palm, Juniper, Citrus, and various shrubs. The question is whether it's environmental or disease... or if a combination, how they work together. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some good information next week when I talk to the county forester or from another source.

Yardvaark do a search for -laurel oak disease orlando fl- read though the sites. At a distance it is easy to confuse identifying live oak and Laurel oak. Disease, insects and environmental factors all contribute to this situation you are seeing. When you visit with the county forester could you get his estimate on how salt water incursion may also be contributing to the situation. I know there is great concern in the Orlando area about this and soon a need to provide desalination of sea water as a potable water source. Lots going on here. I am surprised that the local newspaper is not right on top of this story providing facts.

I've poked around a little, but I'm not as much interested in investigating possibilities as I am in hearing from a knowledgeable professional as to what the heck it is. Since it's cross-species and a-typical for any season here in Florida, it could be something more significant than information already posted. After I get a chance to speak with a professional, I'll have a better perspective of the big picture and what, if anything, to think or do about it. Chances are it will be more thinking and less doing! :-)

Yardvaark, have you heard anything back. I'm very curious though I don't live in the area.

Geesse Louise, reysueela, I just checked back in here. Holy Cow, you are one angry person! Anger and gardening are not a happy combo. BTW, I was not angry in my comments, DIY, just forceful and blunt. 'm just totally backpedddleing here. Yikes, since I'm old, this is rather tricky, as I may lose my balance any second.

Happy gardening to all.
And DIY-guy- hope your new landscape effort works out great!

Christine

This may be of interest: I have just been to see three very sickly Cherry trees in a local church yard that died 'suddenly'. All of them had split bark with oozing sap and canker as a result. I am not sure how sudden this was because it is quite advanced but my diagnoses is that the damage was caused by a combination of a lack of water at a critical point and a freeze/thaw cycle that caused the bark to split (most of the splits are on the East side). It is difficult to suggest a remedy because although not actually dead they are certainly terminally sick.

Those pictures could have been taken here in Austin! After last years drought, even the hardiest of trees seem to have sucumbed. So far this season things are looking good, and with the multitude of wildflowers blooming 'hither and yon', it seems moisture isn't an issue, yet. ;o)

You have hit on something there pt. What is bad for one thing is good for another when it is hotter or wetter than normal. Normal is word that we may need to revise the meaning of. My dad told me that 19th April was the day to plant potato's bless him. We horty types need to get our heads around how old fashioned this is and how to work with it.

I heard back form the county forester yesterday. He was able to take a look at some of the trees I noticed during the past month. Here's the "meat" of his reply...

"I found the dead laurel oaks. They appear to have died from a combination of root decline (fungal infection likely), Hypoxylon canker (symptoms observed on several), boring beetles and finally stress from the prolonged dry season.

Please take a look at Dr Ed Barnard's paper on oak mortality (see link below):

http://www.floridaforestservice.com/forest_management/fh_oak_mortality.html

Thanks for the heads up on the tree mortality, but I think is this instance we are seeing an extra level of oak loss influenced by the long dry Spring and early Summer."

Dr. Barnard's paper is not about something new, but about the various pathogens that affect Oak for the past several years. Last week, while driving in 6 mile stretch I noticed I could not be anywhere where I didn't see a tree, many trees or, especially, groups of trees that were dead. And of multiple species. This seems significantly more than any previous year since I've been here in Florida. There might be new information yet to come, but that it hasn't arrived yet.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dr Ed Barnard's paper on oak mortality

Seems like the county forester didn't address your concerms aboit other non oak species dying. None of the oak death causative factors seem likely to cause such sudden(one week's time complete browning of foliage) results. Perhaps I am wrong about how these diseases and insects could so quickly cause a laurel oak in Florida to go from green to completely dead in a week's time, but for comparison purposes beetles attacking pines or SOD killing native Live Oaks here in northern California never show results like this in just the passage of one week.

Salt water intrusion of the water table in Orlando isn't making the news here in California, but could definitely impact cross species of deeper rooting trees rather quickly, but would be expected to have more uniform impacts across a neighborhood I would think, given that basic soil formation and type don't vary much in Florida conditions with limestone rock subsoils pretty much eveywhere there. Certainly Citrus in Florida are under multiple attack by several long term and revently introduced diseases/pests, as are palms. Florida just seems to get more than its share of new pests and diseases, and monoculture hort practices contribute to their spread, as do hurricanes which can spread insect pests from the islands of the Caribbean.

It doesn't appear that the county forester believes your hypothesis of some new causative agent attacking widely varied types of trees, and in fact their individual deaths could be from widely different causes. What makes me suspicious of this is your assertation that all these tree deaths occured in just one week's time. If true, I'd expect the county forester would have both known of this himself and had some comment/reaction to your concerns other than referring you to previous studies about dying laurel oaks.

As this would seemingly impact any landscape design professional's practice locally, I also find it curious that you personally aren't more curious to research this, or broach the topic with other design/construction and arbor care companies in the area. I know if this were happening here locally, it would be a hot topic on multiple fronts, including the press and county/state agencies. It is hard to believe that wouldn't also be the case in Orlando.

Honestly I wonder sense your near Orlando if it was the mild winter coupled with an insanely hot summer last year, granted I don't know if you had the summer we had and or drought but some areas in Texas look exactly like your pictures.

You know something else thats crazy, I saw an article about 10 years ago by a phd and insanely smart climatologist. He said that the desert from the west was creeping to the southeast and the northeast would be getting more rain and warmer, sure seems to be pretty spot on so far.

Here's what I think. The loss of different species does speak against a pathogen. But some of the trees are likely dying of a common known cause such as the oaks dying. And that is probably true in the unmaintained forest areas.

What I think is causing the death of multiple species in a yard or park environment is a garden center selling a product for trees and shrubs that is mislabeled, defective, or recommended to the customer that way more should be used.

It could be something as simple as fertilizer spikes designed for gradual release of fertilizer that are breaking down in only a few days. Or someone recommending the use of 20 spikes where only 2 should be used.

Or it could be an insecticide labeled for trees that contains instead a herbicide.

I think it's likely there is a single source. My guess is that if the people are interviewed where trees have died there will be a common source for garden products.

Like the other Texans on this thread, my mind immediately thinks "drought stress".

If you've had a bit of a dry spell there, the plants are all a bit more fragile and less likely to be able to fight off infections & diseases. They all might be dying of different things, but the root cause might be that they're not getting as much water as they're used to.

It looks like Houston (isn't central Florida's climate similar?). The Houston Arboretum has lost a ton of trees and had to close trails. Memorial Park, one of the largest urban parks, has lost trees of all species. The Woodlands, a major development North of Houston that's named after all it's trees and where it's against the rules to cut down trees even on your own property, has lost over 1800 trees per month since October.

I don't know how dry it's been in Florida, but the responses you're getting from the Texans are the direct result of us losing trees right now because of the drought. (and realize, we've had a wet spring in Houston, but not wet enough to repair the damage.)

Here is a link that might be useful: $350,000 is raised for the dying pines and oaks of Memorial Park

I wasn't able to add a reply from the county forester right before becoming laid up with some health issues so it's a couple of weeks stale. But in it he acknowledged also recent deaths of live and laurel oaks, red maple, long leaf and slash pines, and red cedar. Still, no specific information regarding an absolute cause. Since then, I've been out of the loop.

I reject theories of products such as fertilizers or herbicides based on the distribution pattern. It's been small pockets of trees (commonly 2-6) and they tend to ignore property lines. Besides, most of the situations I've seen are where one can just tell that these are not yards where anyone is spending 10c on chemicals of any kind. For example, the yard with 4 large oaks dying looks like an abandoned rental property. There's been no attempts to eradicate weeds there. Maybe it gets 2 mowings a year at best. Salt water incursion I would rule out for many obvious reasons. It's not a possibility. And we would have hear about something like that long before it got here. I haven't postulated any theory or made assertions yet as to the cause. Nor have I heard anyone in a knowledgeable capacity state a definitive cause. I speculate a disease or insect infestation that may or may not be affected by the recent lack of winter (our normal dry season) rain. There is talk of a beetle but I don't have enough details... certainly no confirmation at this point.

That was an uncharacteristic silence! Best wishes for a successful recovery, Yardvaark.

Karin L

Ditto the best wishes from Karin. I had noticed your absence, but had just wondered whether the novelty of this forum had worn off :-)

burntplants, the stories from Houston are horrifying. The prediction is that 66 million trees will be lost!! That's almost incomprehensible, and terribly sad.

Yardvaark, we'll continue to monitor this thread. Wishing you wellness too. I'd be very interested in info about drought cycles experienced recently in your area.

Thank you for kind well-wishes.

Winter is the dry season. In the last one only once or twice modest rain in about 6 months, if that, so dry but not major extended over years. (It was very nice for us people.)

Could be a fungus known colloquially as "rust." It spreads from tree to tree without anti-fungals.

Thank you for posting this Yaardvarrk. I don't contribute much to this forum but I do benefit greatly from the information shared here from many knowledgeable members like you. I wonder if there are any of the local universities that would be interested in doing further research on this disturbing issue. This is a silly question but would there happen to be any billboards near these dying trees? Never hurts to ask. . . right?

Here is a link that might be useful: Billboard Industry Secretly Poisons And Kills Roadside Trees

Interesting concept about billboard company vs. trees. I can certify that there's no relationship to the dying trees here in that regard. The dying groups and individuals are just scattered hither and yon throughout the countryside, not necessarily next to roads.

I tried to capture a video that might show better what the situation looks like, but have not seen yet what I have. Do not hold high hopes though as I could barely see anything through the viewfinder... was heavily overcast today. I have seen some some of the groups grow a little larger since the last few weeks.

Hi Yardvaark, I'm not in your area at all (in the PNW), but your posting caught my eye. My house is surrounded by several very large (80-100' tall) Bigleaf Maples. Since I moved here 7 years ago, they have declined rapidly, and now we have to have two taken down, at a large expense. The others look like they are on the way. Being a landscaper, I have become very observant of the other bigleaf maples in the area that are becoming quite stressed and dying. A lot of the native oaks in this area are also having problems. Arborists can give me a list of possible problems they may have, but no overall explanation of why they would suddenly (these trees are 100-200 years old!) start to kick the bucket. I am convinced that we are seeing the effects of climate change on the biosphere and it isn't pretty. Trees become stressed from lack of/excess water, unusual temperatures, and heat/cold at the wrong time, and succumb to whatever disease/pest gets to them first.

This past week, there was an interesting discussion on NPR Radio that touched on drought stressed tree deaths. I was listening in the car while running errands so I only heard fragments but basically the topic was about changes we see happening in our environment due to climate changes. There's a link to the show's transcript.

Here is a link that might be useful: Researchers Observe Climate Change, First-Hand