November 2, 2009

ITHACA -- We have a follow-up to a story we first brought you back in March.  A group of Cornell scientists is turning to a beetle to help reduce the number of other bugs, which threaten hemlock trees in the Finger Lakes Region.
     Remember the hemlock woolly adelgid?  The little critter from Asia was first reported in the Finger Lakes Region a year-and-a-half ago.  It sucks out all the hemlocks' nutrients, and the trees eventually die.
     Now meet the Laricobius nigrinus.  Last week, Mark Whitmore from Cornell's Department of Natural Resources released 900 of the beetles in two locations on Seneca Lake and one on Cayuga Lake.
     “It won't be completely eliminated, but they'll be controlled to a very low level,” said Whitmore.
     Whitmore says the problem of bugs killing trees is the worst he's ever seen.  It's not just the hemlocks that are threatened -- ash trees are under attack from the emerald ash borer, and Asian longhorn beetles are killing maples.
     But Whitmore says the public shouldn't be worried about the Laricobius nigrinus.
     “This beetle has been studied very thoroughly, and is very specific to the hemlock woolly adelgid,” explained Whitmore.
     Whitmore says what people can do is learn more about the problem, and report anything out of the ordinary to their local Cornell Cooperative Extension.
     “There are thousands and thousands of people out there with eyes, and that's what we need. People are concerned about their trees,” he said.

USEFUL LINKS

New York Invasive Species Information

Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health