Emerald Ash Borer may have new natural predator
Posted Jun 7, 2013 10:37:09 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA, On – The city of Ottawa is expected to lose about one quarter of it’s tree canopy due to the emerald ash borer that is chewing through the city’s ash trees.
The little green beetle was first spotted in Ottawa in 2008 and has spread. It was first discovered in Michigan in 2002.
The Canada Food and Inspection Agency has now approved the introduction of two tiny wasp species which lay their eggs inside insects and beetles allowing the young to eat the host.
Environment committee chair, Maria McRae told 1310News she is thankful for help. “Grateful that federal government has done some testing and allowed us to try it because we need to try everything.”
The wasps are about one millimetre long and don’t sting.
They were introduced in Michigan in 2007 and the number of borers that were attacked rose from 1.2 per cent to more than 21 per cent last year according to the Journal of Economic Entomology.
McRae is hopeful it will work.
“It’s not the panacea though,” McRae said. “The wasp will not work at 100 per cent of cases. Certainly we need to keep using our injections and whatever other tool we can get our hand on.”
Ottawa was one of the first cities in Canada to adopt an emerald ash borer strategy which includes tree injections, planting of new species near infected ash tree and regulations to curb the movement of firewood.
The wasps come from northern China where the borer originates. They would become the only natural predator of the emerald ash borer on the continent.
The city has yet to set a timeline for the introduction of the wasps.
