Sarah Johnson from The Nature Conservancy's High Allegheny Hemlock Project shared some encouraging
news about overwinter mortality of hemlock wooly adelgid (HWA). This information was initially provided by Rick Turcotte, Entomologist, US Forest Service, and Tim Frontz, DCNR Forest Pest Management.
Rick shared his analysis of 2
samples of HWA:
~93%
mortality of HWA in Clarion River sample
~95%
mortality of HWA in Allegheny river sample
Tim Frontz shared the below data about samples from Cook Forest State Park and one Elk County infestation
from DCNR lands. HWA mortality assessments were made on foliage collected on Jan. 15 and Feb. 9, 2014 at Cook Forest State Park, PA. You can see, the mortality rates were 97% or higher with most at 100%. That is good news for the hemlocks of the high Allegheny Plateau.
HWA density | County | Live HWA | Dead HWA | % Mortality |
HIGH | Elk/ Cameron | 9 | 306 | 97 |
LOW | Forest (CF State Park) | 0 | 47 | 100 |
LOW | Forest (CF State Park) | 0 | 94 | 100 |
LOW | Forest (CF State Park) | 0 | 60 | 100 |
LOW | Forest (CF State Park) | 1 | 106 | >99 |
Because of the high fecundity of
HWA, an overwinter mortality rate of 91% is necessary to keep the population
from increasing. So mortality rates at 91% mean the infestation will
not get any larger, above 91% means a temporary decrease in the infestation size.
The entomologists have also shared a caveat – with such high reproductive rates
of HWA, this winter kill would need to be repeated maybe several years in a
row, or happen more often (rather than just once every 10 years) to have
significant overall impact in the grand scheme of things.
PA DCNR also provided an overview in a recent news release shared below.
DCNR
gauging past frigid winter’s effect on forest insect pests
The past winter of seemingly unending snowstorms and frigid temperatures has
proved to be a strong ally for state woodland managers battling the No. 1 enemy
of Pennsylvania hemlocks, but the reprieve could be short-lived, Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources officials said recently. To read the full story click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment