Urgent action must be taken to save Britain's forests from being devastated by a wave of new diseases brought by climate change and the global trade in plants, leading scientists have warned.
Species such as oak, ash, Scots pine, larch, beech, birch and juniper are all at risk from a host of new bugs, fungi and bacteria, some of which are already in the country. Others are expected to arrive soon.
One expert has warned that Britain's forests could suffer a similar fate to woodlands in much of the US, where vast stands of trees have been wiped out by beetles, whose numbers have exploded in the warmer temperatures.
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