Color vision may be the key to controlling emerald ash borer

The Emerald Ash Borer is eating its way across America. Next stop? Utah.

This iridescent jewel beetle, responsible for the death of more than 50 million ash trees in the United States, has blazed an absolute path of destruction west since its discovery in Michigan in 2002. (See the map here.)

Recently the pest has been detected in neighboring Colorado, and just this spring it was confirmed in Nebraska and Texas. Researchers at BYU have been doing more than just watching the migration patterns—they’ve been studying the creature in hopes of helping to slow it.

Read more about the research here.

Photo by Mark Philbrick.