The Asian Long-Horned Beetle
This insect has been sighted in the Islington and Steeles area north of Toronto. While we might be inclined to let nature take its course, this insect was introduced inadvertently by humans, and, with no natural predators - nature's way of balancing the scales - the beetle has begun to decimate the hardwoods of southern Ontario. Recent reports, however, suggest that remedial efforts - the mass cutting down of possible food sources - has been moderately successful in stopping the spread of this pest. For more information about this dangerous insect, go to www.inspection.gc.ca. If you see Asiaticus longicornus, please notify the appropriate authorities at 1 800 383 3838.
The Butternut Canker
The two butternuts in our arboretum have long been prized for their buttery oil and syrup as well as for their medicinal purposes: the bark and nut husks of this tree have been tapped to make dyes, laxatives, painkillers, as well as to treat dysentery. The butternut, however, is currently under insidious attack, once again from a foreign invader unwittingly introduced into a defenceless ecosystem. The butternut canker is a fungus which eventually encircles the tree and chokes off the supply of nutrients. The Forest Gene Conservation Association, however, is working to lay bare the DNA of some of the more resistant specimens, so there is yet hope.
Dutch Elm disease
This lethal fungus hitched a ride to North America on unmilled European logs in the early 1930s and made an inexorable beachhead in Ohio, killing the estimated 40,000,000 elms over the next half century. While the disaster in North America is all but complete, a tendril of hope for this species comes from Abertay, Scotland where scientists have developed a technique to inject the genetic material of healthy plants into elm trees. Efforts to reintroduce the elm to North America are continuing at the University of Wisconsin.