2. New invasive species: Emerald Ash Borer
This little green beetle is gorgeous, but please don’t let its colors fool you. Even if the adults are known to feed only on the foliage of the ash tree, the larvae are not that nice, and they destroy the tree by feeding on the inner bark of it.
As you might imagine, this is not the best thing that can happen to a tree because it fully stops the tree’s capacity to carry water and nutrients, resulting in the tree’s premature death.
This new invasive species, which is thought to have traveled from Asia via shipping containers, was discovered for the first time in Detroit, Michigan, and since its discovery, it has spread to more than 35 states.
According to a study led by the US Forest Service, climate change has made the winters less cold, and apparently between 1945 and 2012, there was no winter cold enough to manage to kill the emerald ash borer.
