The emerald ash borer, from pupae to adult. (Photo by the U.S. Department of Agriculture)
Looking for some good news in the midst of the deep freeze that has frozen many Midwestern, Eastern and Southern states? One insect mortality expert says extreme temperatures ranging between -10 degrees and -30 degrees Fahrenheit may be cold enough to kill the majority of emerald ash borer larvae in Minnesota-home to a large percentage of the country's more than 900 million ash trees.
"Winter mortality for [the] emerald ash borer is definitely temperature dependent," University of Minnesota forestry expert Lee Frelich, director of the Center for Forest Ecology, recently wrote in an email to Paul Huttner, chief meteorologist for Minnesota Public Radio. "The larvae can supercool to a certain point, but they die if they freeze, and there is variability in tolerance among individual insects."
The emerald ash borer has spread to at least 22 states and Canada since its discovery in 2002, according to the United States Department of Agriculture-killing an estimated 200 million ash trees. To read more of Frelich's email to Huttner, click here.
