- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
An invasive pest from Asia is killing thousands of trees in Southern California, which may lead to the death of thousands of humans, reported Adam Rogers on Wired.com.
Polyphagous shot hole borer females drill holes inside trees to lay their eggs. In the process, they deposit a fungus that grows and provides food for larvae. The fungus gums up the trees' channels for water and nutrient transport, eventually killing it. Called Fusarium dieback, the condition is on track to kill 26.8 million trees across Southern California in the next few years.
With data from a U.S. Forest Services study, which found that fewer trees is related to respiratory and...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The trees at UC Irvine are continuing to decline, making the leafy campus a living laboratory for research on polyphagous shot hole borer, an invasive beetle that is ravaging the Southern California urban forest, reported Amina Khan in the Los Angeles Times. The borer kills by entering tree trunks and leaving behind fungus that will grow and serve as food for their young. The fungus spreads and kills the trees.
"The beauty of UCI is that it's a university, and they're used to researchers," said John Kabashima, an environmental horticulture advisor and entomologist...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
When trees at UC Irvine became infested with polyphagous shot hole borer, the university assembled a team of scientists to use the campus as a living laboratory to study ways to protect trees from the pest, reported Sanden Totten on KPCC, the public radio station in Southern California.
Two members of the team are UC Agriculture and Natural Resources experts: Akif Eskalen, UC ANR Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Plant Pathology at UC Riverside, and John Kabashima, UC ANR farm...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Hundreds of landscape trees on the UC Irvine campus have been infested with polyphagous shot hole borer, a pest introduced into California from Asia. UCI has assembled a team that includes UC Agriculture and Natural Resources experts to develop a management plan for identifying, removing, treating and replacing the ravaged trees, according to a UCI press release.
Polyphagous shot hole borer has been present on the campus for two to three years. The extent of the infestation became apparent in the last few months when a significant number of trees began showing severe symptoms. UCI...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
California Senator Anthony Canella (R-Ceres) highlighted the high cost of invasive pests in California at an informal hearing Dec. 14 in Los Angeles, reported the Merced Sun-Star.
“Experts peg the negative economic impact caused by invasive pests at $3 billion every year, making pest prevention a concern for all California communities – not just those in rural areas,” Sen. Cannella said. “Today’s hearing offered an important opportunity to better understand the harm invasive pests pose to urban landscaping, waterways and public health and to discuss the role urban communities play in pest prevention and control.”
The...