The researchers had planned a pilot test in central Pennsylvania, but were unable to carry it out due to unfavorable regional weather conditions. Baker posed the question: could Lakhtakia's technique visually replicate the unique female borer to create a better lure? Dead EAB decoys are not ideal for trapping, said Baker, because they are fragile and can sometimes disappear from the trap.īaker then learned that Lakhtakia was able to replicate certain biological materials, such as fly eyes and butterfly wings. Domingue, were using dead female EABs for bait to trap the male beetles. Baker, Distinguished Professor of Entomology at Penn State, knew that the male EAB locates a mate by flying over an ash tree, finding a female by identifying her green wings, which are folded over her back, and then dropping straight down onto her.īaker and a post-doctoral fellow in his lab, Michael J. The beetles don't carry disease, but their larvae feed on the ash trees' sap, effectively killing the trees by depriving trees of their nourishment. Lawrence Seaway," said Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Charles Godfrey Binder Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State.Īs their name implies, emerald ash borers are iridescent green. "Within 25 years, practically no ash trees may remain on either side of the St. They are now moving east from Michigan, killing ash trees on the Eastern Seaboard as far south as North Carolina.
As the emerald ash borer ravages North American ash trees, threatening the trees' very survival, a team of entomologists and engineers may have found a way to prevent the spread of the pests.Įmerald ash borers (EABs), a type of beetle native to Asia, first appeared in the U.S.
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