EAB,Pain in the Ash!!! Traditional Cache
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Permission granted by,Trumbull County Agriculture & Family Education Center,Advisory committee. For more information, check out http://ashalert.osu.edu.This is a kid friendly cache!
Emerald Ash Borer
Emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) is an exotic, invasive wood-boring insect that infests and kills native North American ash trees (Fraxinus spp.), both in forests and landscape plantings. Just like chestnut blight and Dutch elm disease before it, EAB is capable of eliminating an entire tree species from forests and cities throughout the land. This makes it one of the most serious environmental threats now facing North American forests. History Emerald ash borer was unknown in North America until June 2002, when it was discovered killing ash trees in southeast Michigan and neighboring Windsor, Ontario. It is native to eastern Russia, northeastern China, Mongolia, Taiwan, Japan and Korea, where it occurs on several species of ash. It was probably imported into Michigan via infested ash crating or pallets at least 15–20 years ago. Since its accidental importation, EAB has infested and killed millions of trees in southeast Michigan and northwest Ohio.
Typically, there is one generation each year, although development can take two years in newly infested trees that are still healthy. Adults emerge from late May through early August, with emergence peaking in early July. As adults emerge, they leave small (one-eighth of an inch), distinctly D-shaped exit holes in the trunk and main branches, which is a sure sign of infestation. Adults feed on foliage for one to two weeks prior to mating. Females produce about 50 to 100 eggs, which are laid individually on the bark surface or within bark cracks and crevices. Observations indicate that higher branches and upper portions of the trunk are colonized initially, making it difficult to detect early infestations. As larvae hatch, they tunnel into the tree, where they feed through the summer and early fall on the phloem and outer sapwood, excavating S-shaped, serpentine galleries just under the bark. Larvae continue to feed through summer and into the fall, with most completing their development prior to over-wintering in the outer bark or just under the inner bark within the outer inch of sapwood. Pupation occurs in mid- to late-spring. Adults emerge soon thereafter to complete the typical one-year cycle.
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