The adult emerald ash borer does little damage to ash trees, as they only eat the leaves. The ash borer larvae are what kill the tree. They eat through the xylem (what transports water from the roots to the leaves) and phloem (what transports nutrients from the leaves throughout the tree) of the tree.This causes the top of the tree to die back because of a lack of water and nutrients, and the rest of the tree soon follows.
There are other indicators of an infested tree besides dying branches. As the larvae eat the xylem and phloem, the tree builds callous tissue under the bark in its place to deter the borers. The callous tissue pushes out the bark, which creates vertical splitting down the trunk and branches of the tree.
The other indicator is small, fast-growing branches that grow straight up instead of out. These are known as epicormic shoots. The tree sends out epicormic shoots when higher parts of the tree start dying, so that it can put out new growth to try and fight off the infestation.
These audio clips are from an interview about the emerald ash borer with Naperville Park District employee Tiffani Howell.
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