{"id":61280,"date":"2013-07-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-students-searching-for-new-invasive-pest-by-capturing-the-wasps-that-prey-upon-it\/"},"modified":"2013-07-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-29T00:00:00","slug":"uri-students-searching-for-new-invasive-pest-by-capturing-the-wasps-that-prey-upon-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/07\/uri-students-searching-for-new-invasive-pest-by-capturing-the-wasps-that-prey-upon-it\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 students searching for new invasive pest  by capturing the wasps that prey upon it"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"press-release-import\">\n\t\tEmerald ash borer found in Mass., Conn., but not yet in R.I.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 July 29, 2013 \u2013 Three 溏心vlog免费B站 students are on the trail of an invasive beetle that rapidly kills ash trees, but instead of searching for the beetle itself they are looking for wasps that feed on the beetle.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XrKRuvASmsI\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nThe new strategy, called biosurveillance, is being implemented in collaboration with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management to determine whether populations of the emerald ash borer have arrived in Rhode Island. The exotic beetle from Asia was discovered feeding on ash trees in Michigan in 2002 and has rapidly expanded to the East.  It was discovered in Connecticut and Massachusetts in 2012, and New Hampshire in 2013, and it is expected that it may soon be found in Rhode Island.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\u201cLike the name suggests, emerald ash borers bore into ash trees, often girdling them,\u201d said entomologist Lisa Tewksbury, who is leading 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s effort to find the invasive pest in Rhode Island. \u201cThe trees lose much of their canopy in the first year and die within three years.\u201d  According to Tewksbury, the larvae of the emerald ash borer spend the late fall and winter eating tunnels through ash trees before emerging from the tree as adult beetles in April or May.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\u201cAsh trees are fairly common forest trees in Rhode Island, and they have also been extensively planted along streets and in landscapes throughout the state, so if we lose our ash trees it will definitely affect our landscapes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\tBecause of the difficulty of finding the insect before it becomes abundant, 溏心vlog免费B站 and DEM are hoping that a wasp (Cerceris fumipennis or smoky-winged beetle bandit) that feeds on native beetles closely related to the emerald ash borer will help to detect the arrival of the pest insect.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a solitary wasp that nests in colonies in sandy soil, and they seem to especially like to nest in the infields of baseball fields in parks and schoolyards that are not regularly groomed or irrigated,\u201d explained Tewksbury. \u201cThe wasps target beetles in the emerald ash borer family to feed their young. They inject the beetle with paralytic venom and bring it back to their nest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\tAs part of their summer intern positions with 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Biological Control Lab, Max Ragozzino of Narragansett, Elli Wollenweber of Cranston and Liam Sullivan of Coventry bring insect nets to baseball fields in southern Rhode Island and attempt to capture the wasps as they return to their nests with beetles (Mike Becker and Bruce Payton from RIDEM are undertaking a similar effort in northern Rhode Island).  The wasps are released after the beetles are taken from them, and the beetles are taken back to the lab to identify.  Over the course of the summer they will collect up to 50 beetles from each site.  If none of the beetles collected are emerald ash borer, they can move on to a different site.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a really cool project surveying for a really bad invasive species, and we\u2019re doing it in a clever way,\u201d said Ragozzino.  \u201cWe\u2019re using the wasps to find the beetles for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s sort of like treasure hunting,\u201d added Wollenweber. \u201cWe have to wait for the ideal time to catch them because the wasps are finicky and aren\u2019t active when it\u2019s too hot or too windy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\u201cI\u2019m allergic to bee stings, so I was slightly hesitant to participate in the project at first,\u201d said Sullivan. \u201cBut once I realized that they don\u2019t sting people, only beetles, I was fine with it. I am also enjoying the insect collection and identification that comes along with this project.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\tSo far, no emerald ash borers have been found in Rhode Island, but Tewksbury won\u2019t be surprised if they are.  \u201cGenerally when a new pest arrives in Connecticut and Massachusetts, it is found in Rhode Island fairly soon.\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\tMeanwhile, it\u2019s not too early for homeowners and communities to begin preparing for the arrival of this pest.  Many of the state\u2019s ash trees are already in decline from a pathogen, and the emerald ash borer will cause widespread mortality of all commonly grown ash species.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n        Although infested trees can be kept alive through insecticide application, this is costly and requires annual retreatment so planting replacement trees now is an option worth considering.  溏心vlog免费B站 has published a list of sustainable trees and shrubs, available on line at: <br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.uri.edu\/ce\/factsheets\/sheets\/sustplant.html\">溏心vlog免费B站 GreenShare<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Emerald ash borer found in Mass., Conn., but not yet in R.I. &#13; KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 July 29, 2013 \u2013 Three 溏心vlog免费B站 students are on the trail of an invasive beetle that rapidly kills ash trees, but instead of searching for the beetle itself they are looking for wasps that feed on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}