A recently thinned white pine stand at Dupont S.F. where some of our traps are located.
Native to Europe, Asia, and Africa, the Eurasian woodwasp has been introduced to the U.S. in portions of New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Vermont and in Ontario, Canada. This pest was previously introduced in the Southern Hemisphere, where it causes significant problems for tree farmers. Research suggests that our extensive southern pine forests could be at risk if the insect were ever introduced here. Our trapping survey will help inform what native siricids and associated competitors and/or enemies already exist in some of our pine stands. We hope to detect the invasive woodwasp if it has indeed been introduced.
White pines can be relatively tall, so we have quite a few 3' lengths to stack. Photo by B. Mayfield.
We are constructing our traps by cutting down a small (6" to 10" dia.), live white pine, cutting the main stem into 3-foot lengths, then building a "Lincoln log" stack. Not necessarily in honor of our 16th President, rather because woodwasps are attracted to the volatiles emitted from freshly cut trees. We pull the top of the tree next to the stack for added fragrance.
One of the traps at our Cold Mountain, NC site.
In order to get an idea of what insects are getting into our wood stack, we are hanging black funnel traps above the stack. By the end of October, we plan on having 8 traps constructed at each of two sites in North Carolina and at one site in Northern Georgia.
And having never identified Siricids before this experiment, I have a lot of reading to do...
Thank you Jim Meeker down in Pineville, LA for this exciting read!
