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Marshlands Conservation Area Kingston, Ontario- Rideau Trail 1040-1430
09.12.18, -3 °C, clear skies, chilly, no snow but snow-covered ground,
just North of Lake Ontario; wedged between Little Cataraqui Creek to the West of the trail
and Cataraqui Golf and Country Club to the East.
Sampling Strategy: Stratified sampling (all ash trees within plots A-E; 25X25 foot plots). I used the same plots as my original field data.
I altered my data collection protocol since last time. Previously I had been looking for larval galleries/bark fissures. This did not seem to give my data definitive patterns, so I decided to look at other factors of emerald ash borer (EAB) presence too. The other indicator of emerald ash borers I noted was woodpecker foraging/d-shaped exit holes in the trees. I included a category for trees which displayed both larval galleries/fissures/bark deformities and woodpecker foraging/D-shaped exit holes. To prevent double counting trees in a plot, I brought along a piece of yellow chalk to mark which trees had been observed already. The number of replicates in each plot varied from 20-38 ash trees. One problem with my sampling design has been noticing signs of EAB presence up in the canopy. I tried my best to overcome this problem using binoculars though. I have noticed that ash saplings do not tend to be infested by emerald ash borer. It makes me wonder if the age of a tree is more relevant to predicting EAB presence as opposed to the density of ash trees within a plot.
Results:
Plot A 13 out of 25 trees were infected. 52% infection rate.
Plot B 20 out of 29 trees were infected. 69% infection rate.
Plot C 16 out of 20 trees were infected. 80% infection rate.
Plot D 14 out of 38 trees were infected. 36.8% infection rate.
Plot E 12 out of 23 trees were infected. 52.2% infection rate
Figure 1: Ash tree with bark splitting and EAB exit holes/woodpecker foraging
Figure 2: Ash saplings unaffected by EAB
Figure 3: Rideau Trail
Figure 4: Measuring tape used to delineate 25 foot borders of each plot
