Identification of Fraxinus spp. and Agrilus planipennis Infestation using Hyperspectral Reflectance on Leaves and Phloem Tissues.
Deagan Wiebel (Not Pictured)
Ecosystem Restoration and Management
Emerald ash borer ( Agrilus plannipennis ), or EAB, is an invasive bark beetle that devastates ash ( Fraxinus spp.) populations across North America and Europe. This beetle bores “D” shape holes through the bark to lay eggs in the phloem providing hatched larvae with access to the vascular cambium that serves as a source of food. Feeding larvae bore extensive tunnels that cut off nutrient distribution from the tree’s canopy, resulting in ash trees to exhibit symptoms such as bark cracking, heavy woodpecker scaring, epicormic branching, and canopy die back. In ash species not coevolved with EAB, the extensive damage caused by the larvae, can eventually result in tree death. The North American species most affected by the EAB are green ash ( Fraxinus pennsylvanica ) and black ash ( Fraxinus nigra ). Multiple studies have found blue ash ( Fraxinus quadrangulata ) to possess some tolerance when infested with EAB. In this study we utilized handheld spectral radiometers to obtain a spectral reflectance of the leaves and phloem tissues which encodes the chemical structure and secondary metabolites produced by the tree species. The information carried in the spectral reflectance allowed us to build predictive models enabling the identification of species and potential EAB infestation. Further development of predictive models will enable us to identify wavelengths correlated with EAB infestation rates, molecular composition of green, black, and blue ash, and the identification of secondary metabolites that are used by blue ash as tolerance mechanisms.
Advisors: Artur Stefanski, Ph.D.
Subject Area: Forestry
Type: Poster
65
UW-Stevens Point College of Natural Resources
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