Destruction Of Ash Tree

Register to read the introduction… They live just beneath the bark of the tree and move in a zig-zig pattern along the tree. As travels under the bark and above the thick layer of wood, it lives a silent and dark world. It takes in the nutrients it needs from the tree. While tunneling through tree the larva is causing damage to the tree by feeding on the thin layer of tissue under the trees bark called the cambium. After a few weeks of this it metamorphoses into an adult beetle. The beetle then drills or bores its way out of the tree, causing even more harm to the Ash tree. The adult beetle spends its life inside, on or around an Ash tree. It bores holes in and out of the tree and feeds on the leaves the tree produces. Most adult beetles do not stray farther than 0.5 miles away from the ash tree they spent their larval stage. Males live for two weeks, and females live for around three. While their life is very short they are busy mating, laying eggs and starting the cycle all over again. The Emerald Ash Borer did not start out being an invasive species. Now that human activity has brought this beetle to a new …show more content…
This infestation has killed over sixty million ash trees since 2002. Starting in Michigan and now invading many states east as far as New Hampshire, is causing this number to rise. "It is now the most destructive forest insect ever to invade North America," says Deb McCullough, an entomologist at Michigan State University. "We literally cannot keep up with it” (Hamilton, 2011).
The emerald ash borer has not been seen in Vermont yet. But that does not mean the state of Vermont isn’t getting prepared for this invasive species. Vermont’s neighboring states New York and New Hampshire are already battling their inhabitance. Because this insect has now been discovered in these states, Vermont is taking every precaution to be ready when the beetle