Emerald Ash Borers have been found in every Great Lakes state. Click to enlarge.
The Asian carp is making a splash in the Great Lakes, but the giant fish has nothing on the Emerald Ash Borer.
The invasive critter has infiltrated every Great Lakes state since its discovery in Michigan eight years ago. See the extent of the pesky beetle here.
The mashup is limited; only certain states have updated infestation locations and navigation is tedious. On the bright side, the map can be personalized. Here’s the user manual – you’ll need it.
The most useful feature allows displays Emerald Ash Borer locations in a given area. Under tasks, click find nearby EABs. Choose a point on the mashup, pick a certain number of miles and wait for the bright orange circle to highlight critter infestations.
Despite its technical complexities, the mashup illustrates why resource managers are so concerned. The updated map above provides further insight. Click here for more information on the borer.
Win a prize if you’re the first to suggest or create a Great Lakes mashup used on Echo’s Monday Mashup. What’s the prize? Well, it’s not a Great Lakes cruise. But we’ll send you a token of thanks AND publicly acknowledge your contribution in MONDAY MASHUP. Send it to Monday Mashups editor Rachael Gleason at GreatLakesEcho@gmail.com.
Both invaders will completely alter there environment. The comparison is a fair one though the asian carp is probably the winner in Number of Species affected. The EAB will kill ALL North American species of ash tree, not just two cultivars of a single tree species. All ash in the landscape can be killed by EAB, even asian varieties though asian cultivars are better at surviving. My problem with the artical is in the navigator itself. The maps used in the application are not up to date. 13 states are infested and the infestaions are much more extensive than the application indicates. The heading implied that there would be some information about the asian carp but I sisn’t seee anything??? If this is just a reminder that the EAB is the worst exotic land invasive species fine but use up-to-date maps.
The comparison suggested between the Asian carp and the emerald ash borer is unfortunate. Both are invasive species and minimizing the harm or threat posed by either one is counterproductive.
That being said, the emerald ash borer essentially affects only two cultivars of a single tree species, where the voracious appetite of the Asian carp includes a diet of many critical fish, including feeder fish that other species depend upon for their survival. The experiences from the areas already infested by Asian carp suggest that all Great Lakes game fish and the ecosystems that support them would be extremely vulnerable to the effects of an infestation.
The Asian carp are highly-mobile and their spreading would likely be constrained only by environmental conditions, such as availability of food, suitable habitat for reproduction, the physical bounds of Great Lakes waterways, and possibly climate.
Since there is an excellent opportunity to stop the Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes, albeit over the objections of a minor shipping concern and the State of Illinois, it is unconscionable to sit by and allow those man-made barge canals to be the conduit for yet another harmful species invasion.
Illinois, having a mere ¼ of one percent of Great Lakes’ Coastline (approximately 30 out of 10,900 miles), holds the future of all the Great Lakes in their hand. Illinois should not be allowed to jeopardize the entirety of the Great Lakes for shortsighted commercial concerns for which there may be other practical, and job-generating, solutions.
There is no valid comparison between the Asian carp and the emerald ash borer infestations, and presenting the two issues in such a manner is harmful.
Not very user friendly–I entered the city/state
but not address. The program faulted me but
would not allow me to rectify the problem,
I had to abandon ship!