observation one - marianne

Observation One    -   Marianne

My Poor Doomed Tree  

After coming home from a road trip this summer, my dad and I noted that some of the trees in our back yard were dead at the top.  After a little research then we found out they had Emerald Ash Borers (EAB),  and after a call to the city several of our lovely old ash trees around our house are due to be cut down.   

Seeing the spray paint marks on the trees marking them to be cut down every  morning on my way out of the house made me want to get to know more about the bugs that were causing me to lose my lovely trees.      

It turns out that the emerald ash borer, the insect responsible for my tree's death sentence, has become a gigantic problem since they were first found in the U.S. in 2002.  It has actually been called "the most destructive insect"  in the country.  They were first discovered in Detroit in 2002, and have since spread to 15 states, and Ontario.   

So far it seems that all different types of Ash found in North America are susceptible to emerald ash borer,  scientific name - Agrilus planipennis.  The EAB gets its name from it's emerald green wing covers.  It is a beautiful, but destructive insect.  It's original range is in Russia, Northern China, Japan and Korea.  And it's thought that it came over via shipping palettes from China.  

Unfortunately it seems that the EAB has spread far enough that eradication is no longer a possibility,  and efforts are focused on keeping the EAB from spreading further.   

I'm a bit sad to think of my tree, whose shade I've spent may days reading under is going to be cut down, and hopefully the spread of the emerald ash borer can be contained.   

a pretty little bug causing lots of trouble

sources :  http://www.emeraldashborer.info/index.cfm
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/science/13beetle.html?pagewanted=all
http://www.nps.gov/biso/naturescience/emerald-ash-borer.htm