An Ohio ash tree attacked by emerald ash borers (Photo courtesy Ohio State University) AMES, Iowa, September 15, 2009 (ENS) – The emerald ash borer is eating its way through all of the native ash trees across the United States, but Iowa horticulturalist Mark Widrlechner is locked in a battle with the devastating insect. He is collecting and storing ash tree seeds as fast as he can – seeds that can serve as a national resource for reintroducing ash trees once the insect can be controlled. Assistant professor of agronomy and horticulture at Iowa State University, Widrlechner is a curator at the North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station in Ames, Iowa. “When I first found out about the emerald ash borer, we had about 60 different types of ash tree germplasm [seed] in our system,” said Widrlechner. “Now we have about 220. Ultimately, I think we’ll need at least a couple thousand to represent the diversity that’s out there. In the next two years, we should really start to make a dent in it.” First discovered near Detroit, Michigan in June 2002, the emerald ash borer has wiped out ash trees in widening circles across the country. Borers have killed tens of millions of ash trees in southeastern Michigan, with tens of millions more lost in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Quebec, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. As of June, estimates from New York put the total number of ash trees destroyed in that state alone at 70 million. The adult beetles nibble on ash foliage but cause little damage. The immature insects feed on the inner bark of ash trees, disrupting their ability to transport water and nutrients. “Where these borers have been present the longest, it has basically been a total wipeout,” says Widrlechner. “That is something we rarely see in nature,” he said. “It’s uncommon for a pest to come in and just clean something out. It doesn’t just attack sick trees. Emerald ash borer attacks healthy trees. It attacks small trees. So you don’t have just big, old trees falling to this, you’ve got two to three inch saplings falling to this.” …

Iowa Scientist Battles Emerald Insect for Ash Survival