City Trees is a premier publication focused on urban + community forestry. In each issue, you’ll learn how to best manage the trees in your community and more!
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/599208
The Asian longhorned beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis, is a wood-boring insect that is capable of destroying 30% of the urban trees in the United States at an eco- nomic loss of $669 billion. Infestations of this invasive beetle have been found in Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Illinois, and they have been shown to feed on more than 100 different tree species, with a preference for maples, poplars, aspens, cottonwoods, and willows. Now a new, open-access article in the Journal of Integrated Pest Management (JIPM) provides a comprehensive overview of the ALB, including a review of its biology, life stages, distribution, ecology, and methods of detecting and controlling it. "There have been several reviews of ALB that were more for scientists, but this one is more for managers -- peo- ple who are dealing with them," said co-author Melody Keena, a research entomologist with the U.S. Forest Service. "This is a good summary of the scientific back- ing for everything the cooperative eradication programs are doing. They can point the public to this document for more information, especially because it's written for JIPM in language that non-scientists can understand." The supplementary tables in the JIPM article will be par- ticularly helpful for managers, according to the authors. The first lists nearly 160 different trees on which the ALB can feed, oviposit, or complete development under field conditions. Another lists tree species that are not considered to be ALB hosts, so they may be good choic- es for replanting efforts. Because the ALB is often first noticed by the public, the authors stress the importance of finding them sooner than later. "We highlighted early detection as an import- ant part of the eradication program because the faster they are found, the less they have spread," Dr. Keena said. "Traps baited with pheromones and plant volatiles (plant smells) that our research group developed are a newer tool that is helping to detect this beetle, but all infestations found in the U.S. to date have been spotted by the public and brought to the managers' attention." The full article, "Asian Longhorned Beetle (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), an Introduced Pest of Maple and Other Hardwood Trees in North America and Europe," is available here. Resource for ALB Management Asian Longhorned Beetle • Photo by Kyle Ramirez Source: Entomological Society of America- PIE Division Press Release. www.entsoc.org Management Practices for information on urban soil management. I was surprised that the authors did not men- tion more recent references, such as James Urban's Up by Roots (published by ISA, 2008), Dr. Ed Gilman's 3rd ed. of An Illustrated Guide to Pruning (Delmar, 2012) and Gilman's website (hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/index.shtml), The Practical Science of Planting Trees by Drs. Gary Watson and E. B. Himelick (ISA, 2013), and Trees in the Urban Landscape: Site Assessment, Design, and Installation by Peter Trowbridge and Nina L. Bassuk (Wiley, 2004). While most of the black-and-white photos and figures compliment the text in this book, some photos in the Management chapters, especially the ones that included graphs from scientific journals, had terse captions and were inadequately explained in the text. One photo depicted a reduction cut yet the caption identified it as a subordination cut. Despite the shortcomings on the arboricultural front, I found the business aspects of urban forestry to be highly informative as the authors dis - cussed record-keeping, costs, contracts, and scheduling. In Chapter 13, "Program Administration and Analysis," the authors deftly address the administration and management of urban for - estry programs by focusing on funding, organi- zational structures, program analysis, person- nel administration, and public relations. Chapter 14, "Management of Park and Open Space Vegetation," provides information on managing forest ecosystems on public and private lands. The final chapter addresses the trends, innovations, and basic management principles of private sector industries with a greater emphasis on utility arboriculture. The book has eight appendices which include sample ordinances, tree pruning specifica - tions, and samples of customer newsletters. This comprehensive textbook is one that I will use for teaching urban forestry students; however, it can also be used to train allied pro- fessionals engaged in the planning, establish- ment, and maintenance of urban forests. www.urban-forestry.com 35