About the project
For the second year in a row, the State Plant Protection Service is deploying traps to monitor the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) as part of the project led by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, “EABRACE: Emerald Ash Borer invasion: exploring spread patterns and beetle biodiversity dynamics for strategic conservation measures”.
The EABRACE project brings together experts from Sweden, Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Latvia and Estonia.
The aim of the project is to:
- monitor the emerald ash borer;
- assess the biodiversity dynamics of native beetle species before and during an emerald ash borer invasion (if such occurs);
- promote the exchange of best practices, data and resources in order to maintain sustainable emerald ash borer monitoring and management strategies in the Baltic Sea region.
What is the emerald ash borer?
The emerald ash borer is a quarantine pest that can cause major economic losses by causing infested trees to wither and die rapidly within a few years. Large-scale pest outbreaks have been observed in Russia (for example in Saint Petersburg and Smolensk Oblast), in Belarus (in Gomel), and in Ukraine (in Kyiv and Kharkiv), which creates risks and requires preventive action to stop the pest from spreading further in Europe. Based on the known patterns of the emerald ash borer’s spread, the Baltic States and Poland could be the first European Union countries where the pest is detected.
Monitoring
As part of the project, 30 traps have been placed in Latvia to attract the emerald ash borer at 12 monitoring points in high-risk locations:
- parks located near transport routes leading from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine;
- sites near companies that import ash wood from countries affected by emerald ash borer infestations (such as Ukraine).
Monitoring as part of the EABRACE project will take place from May to September in Rēzekne, Sigulda, Bauska, Valmiera, Ludza, Krāslava and Augšdaugava municipalities. The traps have been placed at the same sites as in previous year.
Specialists in plant quarantine from the State Plant Protection Service and experts from the National Phytosanitary Laboratory will carry out regular trap inspections and test insect samples collected from the traps.
This year, the Latvian State Forest Research Institute “Silava” has also joined the project. Its specialists will place traps for biodiversity research and identify the beetle species caught in them.