Insects slipping into the US are causing billions of dollars in damage
From a distance, the hemlock trees by the Wappinger Creek in Millbrook, New York, look just fine. But forest ecologist Gary Lovett knows better. He pulls back the twigs and exposes some tiny, white fluffy balls.
“These are the protective coating that’s created over the top of the hemlock woolly adelgid, a tiny aphid-like insect,” said Lovett.
“They’re very tiny, so one of them won’t bother the tree. But when we have millions and millions of them on a tree, it eventually kills the tree,” explained Lovett, who is with Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, about a two-hour drive north of New York City.
The hemlock woolly adelgid, native to East Asia, is slowly killing trees from Maine to Georgia. It’s among the latest in a line of invasive pests slipping into the US.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/insects-slipping-into-the-us-are-causing-billions-of-dollars-in-damage/ar-BBQMjQq?li=BBnb7Kz
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