Extreme cold temperatures in the forecast could be good news for Winnipeg’s ash trees and very bad news for emerald ash borers.
The city started battling the invasive species even before its presence was confirmed last year; the beetle could cost the city millions of dollars and devastate the tree canopy, which includes more than 350,000 green ashes.
But now researchers are probing whether temperatures below –30 C could kill or slow the development of the emerald ash borer. Chris MacQuarrie, a research scientist with Natural Resources Canada, is trying to determine what it might take to stop the borer as it mounts an invasion of Western Canada.
“The cold question is one that’s really interesting especially for, as it moves — we’ve sort of expected it’s going to keep moving — and so as it gets into Western Canada, that question of what does the cold do, and what does the climate do, is really interesting,” said MacQuarrie, who’s working with a postdoctoral student to get to the bottom of that question.
Read the full story here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/emerald-ash-borer-cold-1.4995116