Emerald ash borer
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Emerald ash borer
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Coleoptera Family: Buprestidae Genus: Agrilus Species: A. planipennis
Binomial name
Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, 1888

The emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis or Agrilus marcopoli) is a shiny green beetle native to Asia. Since its accidental introduction into the United States, it has spread to seven states and adjacent parts of Canada and is considered an invasive species. It has killed at least 20 million ash trees so far and threatens to decimate the ash trees throughout North America.^[1]

Description

The average length for an adult emerald ash borer is ¾ in (20 mm) long and ¹⁄₆ in (4 mm) wide. The larvae are approximately 1 mm in diameter and .6 in (15 mm) long, and are a creamy white color. The eggs turn to a yellow brown color prior to hatching.^[2] Adults lay eggs in crevasses in the bark. Larvae burrow into the bark after hatching and consume the cambium and phloem, effectively girdling the tree and causing death within two years. The average emerging season for the emerald ash borer is early spring to late summer. Females lay around 75 eggs, but up to 300 from early May to mid-July. The borer's life cycle is estimated to be one year in southern Michigan but may be up to two years in colder regions.

Distribution

The natural range of the emerald ash borer is eastern Russia, northern China, Japan, and Korea. It was suspected to be accidentally imported to North America from China in the 1990s and has since destroyed more than six million ash trees in southeastern Michigan. It was discovered in June 2002 in Canton, Michigan. It has since been found in a few other parts of the United States and Canada. Ohio and Ontario have experienced emerald ash borer migration from Michigan, while Maryland and Virginia received shipments of contaminated trees from a Michigan nursery. The emerald ash borer was confirmed in Indiana in April 2004 and West Virginia in October 2007.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is attempting to exterminate all of these beetles on the continent, and has taken the unusual measure of destroying every ash tree within a half-mile (800 m) radius of known infested trees. Southeast Michigan is a quarantine zone from which ash trees or even firewood cannot be removed. The quarantine applies only to the counties where the emerald ash borer has been detected.^[2] The infected states have prohibited the movement of firewood from one state to another helping to eliminate the spreading and fully enforce the quarantine zone. Large fines have been imposed on a few companies that violated the ban, including one that was removing ash trees from southeast Michigan and is believed to be responsible for spreading the beetle to another county. The USDA has committed at least $40 million dollars for eradication in 2004 and expects to spend over $350 million in the next twelve years.

Michigan officials announced 2005-09-14 that ash borer infestation had crossed the Straits of Mackinac and was now in the Upper Peninsula for the first time. Wisconsin environmental officials considered it a grave threat and began preparations for surveys in northern counties. Currently twelve counties in Indiana are under quarantine. However, states and cities are running out of money to combat the problem and many authorities feel that the borer will spread throughout North America. The EAB can move short distances by flying as well as surviving long distances in transit on Ash tree nursery stock, Ash logs, branches, and firewood.^[3]

In June 2006, it was reported that emerald ash borers had been found at a home near Lily Lake, Illinois.^[4] Illinois officials plan to conduct a survey of the region, and will later hold a hearing to determine if a quarantine is necessary. In July, 2006, further infestations were discovered in Northern Cook County, Illinois, including Wilmette, Evanston, and Winnetka.^[5]

In June 2007, it was reported that emerald ash borers have been found in Cranberry Township, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.^[6] On June 27, 2008, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported that the state Department of Agriculture says the emerald ash borer has been found in Mercer County. The invasive beetle was discovered in Butler and Allegheny counties last summer. Officials are surveying this year to gauge whether the insect has spread. Mercer joins Allegheny, Beaver, Butler and Lawrence counties in a quarantine prohibiting the movement of ash nursery stocks, green lumber and firewood.

In October 2007, an emerald ash borer larva was discovered in a West Virginia Department of Agriculture "detection tree" located in Fayette County. This detection tree was located in a recreational site, with camping, mountain biking, and white water rafting. It is believed that the pest arrived in firewood that was illegally transported by tourists visiting the New River Gorge area, a popular site for white water rafting (USDA-APHIS-PPQ).^[7]

As of December 2007, a federal quarantine has been imposed on the following areas in the U. S. for Emerald Ash Borer: the lower peninsula of Michigan; Mackinac County, Michigan; the entire states of Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana; Prince Georges County, Maryland; and Fayette County, West Virginia. (USDA-APHIS)

Emerald Ash Borer has also been found in Canada. As of November 2007, there are four regulated areas in Southwestern Ontario for EAB. Elgin, Lambton, and Middlesex counties are regulated separately. Essex County and the Municipality of Chatham-Kent, which were separately regulated in 2004, were combined into one regulated area in June 2006. (CFIA/USDA-APHIS-PPQ)

By June 2008, Emerald Ash Borers were discovered in the city of Chicago,^[8] and in the far south-west corner of Naperville.^[9]

It was confirmed by Canadian Agriculture officials to be present in Monteregie, Quebec. This region lies directly North of New England, therefore drastically increasing the likelihood of being found in New England. ^[10]

Authorities across the US are now trying to determine the exact extent of EAB by placing purple traps nationwide.

Economic impact

A green ash killed by emerald ash borers

Evidence of the emerald ash borer sometimes takes up to a year to recognize. Some signs that the emerald ash borer has infested a tree are D–shaped holes in the bark of the trunk or branches and shoots growing from the base of the tree.^[2]

The reason the beetle kills trees is because the feeding larvae damage both the phloem (responsible for nutrient transport throughout the tree) and xylem (responsible for take-up of water and nutrients) tissues of the tree. The beetle effectively strangles the tree. A tell-tale sign of infestation is new shoots sprouting from the bottom of the tree. As long as the beetle does not eat the bark at the very base of the tree, the small shoots at the bottom can still get nutrients. Surprisingly, even after the larger tree is cut down, some of these shoots may keep on growing.

The insect is unusually difficult to kill. More than 7.5 billion ash trees are currently at risk. Nearly 114 million board feet (33,000 m³) of ash saw timber with a value of US$25.1 billion is grown in the eastern United States each year. Over thirty five million ash trees have died or are dying in the United States at this time. The full time it takes for a tree to die due to the EAB is generally two or three years.

A pilot study is being undertaken in Michigan to determine if three different parasitic wasps can deter the emerald ash borer. These tiny stingless wasps can sense beetles underneath the bark and then lay their eggs in the larvae or egg, thus killing them. It is not known at this time whether their release will have any unintended ecological impacts.The wasps have been released according to a Michigan newspaper. The releases began in July 2007, a few weeks later than they had hoped to begin initial releases.^[11] (modification: USDA-APHIS-PPQ) BRAMPTON - The Emerald Ash Borer- a destructive insect that kills Ash trees- has been found in southeast Brampton.

That discovery, revealed this week by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), will likely lead to restrictions on the movement of wood and wood products out of the entire Region of Peel, according to Brian Hamilton, the CFIA’s acting Emerald Ash Borer program specialist.

The insect, which has likely killed millions of ash trees in southwestern Ontario already, has been found in the area of Dixie Road and Steeles Avenue. Now ash trees in that area are under the CFIA microscope to determine the extent of the infestation. Affected property owners will be notified, according to the CFIA.

Approximately 15 per cent of local boulevard and park trees are ash, according to City of Brampton spokesperson Gordon Smith. They are particularly common boulevard trees in the M and J Sections of Bramalea, according to a previous city staff report.

“We’re very concerned about our trees,” said Smith, adding the city is awaiting word from the CFIA on next steps.

Hamilton said this week that larvae from the boring insect has been found by an arborist in an ash tree on private property— at a strip mall in the area now being examined by the CFIA.

Because of the notoriety of the insect, the arborist reported the find immediately to the CFIA.

The insect does not pose a danger to human health and it does not affect mountain ash.

Hamilton said it’s difficult to say exactly how many trees are affected in the area, but he estimated the insect has likely infested about two dozen trees.

“In our detection surveys, if we find it in four out of 10 trees, it’s probably in all 10,” Hamilton said.

The CFIA does not destroy infested trees because that approach has proven ineffective in stopping the spread, he said.

Instead, restrictions on the movement of wood are put on areas where the insect is found.

The insect does not spread quickly on its own. It is usually spread when infested wood and wood products are moved into an area, according to the CFIA.

That’s why the federal agency is making an urgent request to Bramptonians— don’t move firewood, nursery stock, trees, logs, wood, rough lumber including pallets and other wood packaging materials, bark, wood chips or bark chips from ash (Fraxinus species), and firewood of all tree species out of Brampton.

Hamilton said, based on past practice, the CFIA will likely make that request the law eventually, and not just for Brampton, but the entire Region of Peel (Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon). If Peel is officially quarantined, any movement of those materials outside of the region, without written permission from the CFIA, will carry a fine of between $400 and $4,000. Movement of the materials around the region would be discouraged, but not illegal.

This is the first time the insect has been found in Brampton, but several other Ontario municipalities, the closest being Toronto, are already under regulation after discovery of the pest.

The City of Toronto and Norfolk County were both put under regulation this year. The municipality of Chatham-Kent as well as Essex, Elgin, Lambton and Middlesex counties are under regulation. The insect has also been recently discovered in the Monteregie Region of Quebec.

Hamilton said despite the potential fines, education and awareness are the keys to ensuring the regulations are adhered to.

“CFIA will work with people,” he said. “What we ultimately want is compliance, that’s our goal here.”

The CFIA does “firewood blitzes”, he said, checking campers to ensure the firewood they are using has not been brought out of a regulated area. Hamilton said the bottom line is that firewood should be purchased in the area in which it is to be used.

In the end, it’s cheaper to pay $6 for a bag of firewood at a provincial park than $400 for a fine, he said.

This is the first time the insect has been discovered in Brampton, but the danger it poses to Ash trees was on the City of Brampton’s radar screen in 2003, less than a year after it first turned up in Canada. The city cut by 75 per cent its planting of Ash trees in 2003, and eliminated the tree completely from its new planting inventory in 2005 because of the threat posed by the insect. City staff has estimated it would cost more than $10 million for stump/tree removal and replacement if the pest wiped out the thousands of city-owned ash trees.

It is not known how many ash trees are on private property in the city.

Ash trees are very common, especially as a city boulevard tree, and ash is a common firewood.

Municipalities began planting ash trees more frequently after Dutch elm disease decimated the Elm population, Hamilton said.

He said the ash trees in the identified area will die.

“It might not be this year, it might be four years from now, but it’s going to happen,” he said, noting the insect is “very good” at killing ash trees.

He said the CFIA will also work with the municipality to ensure ash wood does not end up in the yard waste collection material.

Effective steps to help reduce infestations

• Purchase firewood AT/near a campsite
• Do not bring firewood back to destination after a camping trip
• Evaluate firewood. Make sure it has no bark at all
• Decrease the use of wood burning fires[2]
• Treat already infested trees or prevent future infestation[3]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Emerald ash borer

Wikispecies has information related to:

Agrilus planipennis

External links

• Multistate EAB website
• "Emerald ash borer". United States Department of Agriculture.
• Southeast Michigan Resource Conservation & Development Council - Ash Utilization Options Project - developing value-added products from ash trees affected by the emerald ash borer
• Emerald ash borer Indiana Information
• Canadian Food Inspection Agency
• Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
• Ohio Department of Natural Resources page on EAB
• Department of Agriculture infestation PDF map