Battling bad beetles. (Clippings).The U.S. Department of Agriculture's task of combating the Asian long-horned beetle The Asian long-horned beetle(Anoplophora glabripennis), sometimes called Starry Sky (Sky Oxen in China) beetle, is native to China and where it causes widespread mortality of poplar, willow, elm, and maple throughout vast areas of eastern Asia. in New York and Chicago is incorporating the efforts of AMERICAN FORESTS' Big Tree sponsor, The Davey Tree Expert Company. More than 130,000 trees in parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island were injected with pesticides in an attempt to ward off the pests. Similar injections were previously done in Chicago. Asian longhorned beetles came into the U.S. in 1996 in packing crates from China. The beetles lay their eggs in trees and the resulting larvae bore into the wood, feeding on the tree's cambium cambium (kăm`bēəm), thin layer of generative tissue lying between the bark and the wood of a stem, most active in woody plants. The cambium produces new layers of phloem on the outside and of xylem (wood) on the inside, thus increasing , sapwood sapwood, relatively thin, youngest, outer part of the woody stem of a tree, the part that conducts water and dissolved materials. In the cross section of a tree, the sapwood is recognizable by its texture and color; it is softer and lighter than the inner heartwood. , and heartwood and impeding the movement of water and nutrients through the tree. The injections the Davey employees have been doing are designed to stop the beetles as they begin their burrowing. Trees that are infested with Asian longhorned beetles have dead or yellowing leaves, excessive sawdust built up near the base or in a crotch, dime-sized holes, and oozing sap. Davey also worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Chicago to inject trees and fight the spread of the deadly pest. The beetles have been found in the greater New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. and Chicago areas and in warehouses in 15 states: Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin, according to information supplied by the USDA USDA, n.pr See United States Department of Agriculture. . |
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