It was only discovered in 2002 in Windsor, Ontario, but it has now spread across an area from Iowa and Missouri to New York and Massachusetts. Scientists estimate that the insect will kill up to 99% of American ash trees. Since 43 native insect species rely on ash trees for food or breeding, this will also affect birds. And the gaps in the canopy will allow invasive honeysuckle bushes to grow, creating a thicket of shrubs that will crowd out other plant species.
In The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert discusses how we are spreading invasive species like the emerald ash borer and the wooly adelgid, which kills eastern hemlocks. We will still have an ecosystem, of course, but it won’t be the one we know, and we will lose many native species in the process.
If you would like to see a picture of the emerald ash borer and what it does to trees, go to <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/01/science/earth/ash-forests-after-emerald-ash-borers-destroy-them.html?_r=0>. And if you see one, crush it.
The Emerald Ash Borer has done an extreme amount of damage to trees here in Illinois. I'm talking millions of trees. It is a sad sight to see. It's not unusual to see almost all the trees along some streets and roads hat have died. The only thing that is being done is cut the tree down when they are discovered. To my knowledge nothing will stop them.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid in a few years we will be seeing the same thing here in Pennsylvania that you are already seeing in Illinois.
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