New York trees under attack

The dabs of white on the twigs of hemlock trees could be fresh, wind-driven snow.

But they’re nothing so benign. Instead, they’re the telltale signs of tiny insects that are slowly sucking the life out of the hemlocks on which they’re found.

Hemlock woolly adelgids, aphid-like insects that create the white egg sacs, are a conspicuous entry on a growing list of invasive species that are threatening or outright killing western New York trees.

Joining them in the rogue’s gallery are fungi, beetles, moths, planthoppers and other insects — all of them foreign to our region, some ushered into New York by rising temperatures associated with climate change.

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Photo: USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org