Asian Long-Horned Beetle Threat

Introduction

The Asian long-horned beetle was first found in Mason, Ohio in June of 2009. The Asian long-horned beetle did not appear in the people's line of sight in Cincinnati until 2 years later. In “a vineyard and winery east of Cincinnati”, some kinds of trees were damaged or even killed (Gazette, 2011, p. A16). After surveying the area, state inspectors confirmed the damage was attributed to the Asian long-horned beetles. Bill Skvarla, owner of the Harmony Hill Vineyards and Estate Winery, said experts guessed these bugs came from “a piece of crating material into a farm machinery manufacturing plant.” (p. A16) According to Bob Downing, the beetles are a severe threat for Ohio because it has many maples, which are host trees for the pest. Officials indicated the pest might cause economic loss of $200 billion without efficient controlled.

Method

In order to protect the property and environment of the United States, Animal and Plant Health Inspection, an organization under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with state and local government need to unite and treat hardwoods not infested with the pest during spring and fall in quarantine areas. The most useful method is using imidacloprid, a kind of insecticide which has been proved can reduce beetle populations, is going to be injected either into tree trunk or soil. There also are other methods to fight with these pests. For example, New Hampshire bans residents to import firewood. Because Piera Siegert (2011), a New Hampshire state entomologist, stated that the beetles “can be spread through the transportation of firewood.” (p.B2) In addition, the state of Ohio decided to cut down 50,000 trees in the southwest to stop the spread of the beetles.

Results

With the help of Imidacloprid, New York has been able to away of flying adult Asian long-horned beetle for two years. “Manhattan and Staten Island should be the next areas to be declared beetle-free, in 2012 and 2014,” said Kevin King (2012), of the...