Emerald Ash Borer - Introduction of Biological Control Organisms

Introduction of Biological Control Organisms

As part of the campaign against the emerald ash borer (EAB), American scientists in conjunction with the Chinese Academy of Forestry searched since 2003 for its natural enemies in the wild leading to the discovery of several parasitoid wasps, namely Tetrastichus planipennisi, a gregarious larval endoparasitoid, Oobius agrili, a solitary, parthenogenic egg parasitoid, and Spathius agrili, a gregarious larval ectoparasitoid. These have been introduced and released into the United States of America as a possible biological control of the emerald ash borer. Initial results have shown promise with T. planipennisi, and it is now being released. Entomologist John Vandenberg is assessing the application of Beauveria bassiana (a fungal pathogen with known insecticidal properties) prior to the releasing of T. planipennisi. However, some recent studies have shown that B. bassiana has had deleterious effects on the wasps themselves.

Read more about this topic:  Emerald Ash Borer

Famous quotes containing the words introduction, biological, control and/or organisms:

    We used chamber-pots a good deal.... My mother ... loved to repeat: “When did the queen reign over China?” This whimsical and harmless scatological pun was my first introduction to the wonderful world of verbal transformations, and also a first perception that a joke need not be funny to give pleasure.
    Angela Carter (1940–1992)

    Although there is no universal agreement as to a definition of life, its biological manifestations are generally considered to be organization, metabolism, growth, irritability, adaptation, and reproduction.
    The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition, the first sentence of the article on “life” (based on wording in the First Edition, 1935)

    The mind is the greatest of all human forces. Control the mind and you control the body.
    Griffin Jay, Randall Faye, and Lew Landers. Armand Tesla (Bela Lugosi)

    The white man regards the universe as a gigantic machine hurtling through time and space to its final destruction: individuals in it are but tiny organisms with private lives that lead to private deaths: personal power, success and fame are the absolute measures of values, the things to live for. This outlook on life divides the universe into a host of individual little entities which cannot help being in constant conflict thereby hastening the approach of the hour of their final destruction.
    Policy statement, 1944, of the Youth League of the African National Congress. pt. 2, ch. 4, Fatima Meer, Higher than Hope (1988)