pine

If anything, it is attacking you, its troops already arrayed in drugstore aisles, advancing through catalog pages, singing its songs through supermarket speakers, with the pine and fir trees that will fill vacant and parking lots across the country close behind.

Forests with few tree species pose considerably higher risk of being damaged and especially vulnerable is the introduced lodgepole pine.

"Our results show that there is a potential to reduce the risk of forest damages via a changed forest management. Especially, a higher proportion of broadleaf trees in the otherwise so coniferous-dominated production forest would result in fewer damages. We can for example see that the lodgepole pine, introduced by the forestry industry, has the highest risk of damage. Its introduction therefore counteracts a profitable forestry," says Micael Jonsson.

The Aleppo pine, for instance, is a fast-growing species found throughout the western Mediterranean, Greece and parts of the Levant, including northeastern portions of historical Palestine.

According to their research, the Aleppo pine's highly flammable leaves and cones have increased the risks of fire.