Location: Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit
Project Number: 8010-22000-028-012-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2015
End Date: Aug 31, 2020
Objective:
1) To collect and rear emerald ash borers as hosts for rearing newly introduced biocontrol agent Spathius galinae; and
2) To determine the establishment and/or dispersal of previously introduced emerald ash borer parasitoids by documenting emergence of both native and introduced parasitoids from ash logs harvested at different sites.
Approach:
Each year from the fall (October) to early spring (March), approximately 25 – 50 ash (Fraxinus spp.) trees with symptoms (e.g., bark splits, woodpecker feeding damage) of emerald ash borer infestations will be located and felled from various forest sites in Maryland. GPS coordinates for all felled trees will be recorded. Felled trees will be cut to 1-meter long logs and transported to University of Maryland, College Park, where they will be stored at 1 – 4 degrees C in a cold box. After a minimum of one months of low temperature storage (to break the beetle and parasitoid diapauses), logs will be then incubated in an environmentally controlled room at about 28 degrees C for beetle production and parasitoid recovery. Emerging beetles and associated parasitoids will be monitored two to three times a week. While living beetles will be counted, collected and shipped to ARS BIIRU (Newark, DE) for use in rearing the newly introduced biocontrol agent Spathius galiane, any parasitoids emerging in association of emerald ash borer-infested ash logs will also be numerated, collected, and vouchered for identification. These data will be eventually associated with previous parasitoid releases and then analyzed for parasitoid establishment and dispersal.
