Wasps and Emerald Ash Borer

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Lake Girl

Lake Girl

Moderator
Nov 12, 2011
6,939
NW Ontario
Not sure how I feel about this program .... http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/cana...sps-that-kill-the-emerald-ash-borer-1.3334010

Great if it controls emerald ash borers but what are the consequences of a larger population of wasps? How are they different from current wasps? They brought in Japanese lady beetles to control purple loosestrife with the belief that they would not winter well. Ha! The population has decreased but they are still here. The first 3 -4 years after introduction was horrible as they were in every nook and cranny.

We generally have enough problems with wasps here ... not sure what the characteristics of these introduced ones are but not looking forward to the fall-out from their introduction 'cause there always is a down-side. Since we are on the cusp of northern movement, guess we'll find out...
 
Evolution, science, politics and money. Who else but Mother Jones!

Trees do have the ability to evolve against pests if we let them.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/03/bark-pine-beetles-climate-change-diana-six

"Six focuses on the "evolutionary marriage" of beetle and fungi at her four-person lab at the University of Montana, where she is the chair of the department of ecosystems and conservation sciences. Structures in bark beetles' mouths have evolved to carry certain types of fungi that convert the tree's tissue into nutrients for the bug. The fungi have "figured out how to hail the beetle that will get them to the center of the tree," Six says. "It's like getting a taxi." The fungi leave blue-gray streaks in the trees they kill; "blue-stain pine" has become a specialty product, used to make everything from cabins to coffins to iPod cases.

A healthy tree can usually beat back invading beetles by deploying chemical defenses and flooding them out with sticky resin. But just as dehydration makes humans weaker, heat and drought impede a tree's ability to fight back—less water means less resin. In some areas of the Rocky Mountain West, the mid-2000s was the driest, hottest stretch in 800 years. From 2000 to 2012, bark beetles killed enough trees to cover the entire state of Colorado. "Insects reflect their environment," explains renowned entomologist Ken Raffa—they serve as a barometer of vast changes taking place in an ecosystem."
 
Let me ask a question....

What happens if 90% of all ash die from he midwest to the east coast? Will not other trees take their place...and then later on get wiped out by some other pest/disease and the cycle will repeat itself?

I know we love to have diversity of hardwoods, but at the same time, isn't it lack of diversity that allows the borer to flourish?

I'm tossing a grenade into the conversation so that you guys can educate me. Playing the devils advocate. :)
 
sportbikerider78 said:
isn't it lack of diversity that allows the borer to flourish?
Click to expand...
Lack of diversity becomes a problem if the ash are all killed off... The emerald ash borer is an import to North America that has no indigenous predator to keep its population in check ... an invasive species like zebra mussels, lamprey eel, asian carp in the Great Lakes. It is why it has been able to populate so quickly. Kudos to the scientists that thought to find and import the natural predator from Asia.

A little more reading shows that this type of wasp is not a stinging wasp. However, it may become a little like "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" as you may be chasing the predator of the wasp when it becomes overpopulated. Mind you if the emerald ash borer is held in check, guess the wasps should be too unless they are indiscriminate parasites...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrastichus_planipennisi
 
Do the ash borer beetles affect any other trees or just ash?

What if this just runs its course? Once the ash trees die out, do the beetles die out too? Can we just replant when they are gone?

Bringing in another species is exactly the thing I was referring to when I said humans will keep doing dumb stuff. How many times have we done that and watched it backfire on us?

-SF

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk
 
You have to have the ability to regenerate those ash trees... I guess the wasps are a preferable control vs. pesticide treatment.
 
I am pretty sure my current stash of pellets is from dead ash trees and help keeping pellet prices down by the over abundance of dead trees. Maybe.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
A lot of pine beetle damaged trees end up as softwood pellets... Because the wood was so dry, dust collection systems and clean up procedures were inadequate and resulted in mill explosions with deaths. Great to find the use for the damaged wood but it is not consistent with "normal" wood.
 
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