Wyatt Williams, Invasive Species Specialist with the Forest Health Unit of Oregon Department of Forestry, is the guest speaker for the KSON Quarterly meeting on September 21st from 1:00-2:30. Wyatt will be speaking to us about the Mediterranean Oak Borer and its arrival in Oregon.

Mediterranean oak borer, pest of oaks, arrives to Oregon --- Mediterranean oak borer (MOB) is a tiny wood-boring ambrosia beetle that is a known pest of cork oak in Europe. Like other ambrosia beetles, MOB is a “fungus farmer” carrying various species of fungi from tree to tree, where it inoculates the wood in host trees and grows food for its developing larvae. Usually, ambrosia beetles are thought of as beneficial insects, as the decay fungi help break down and recycle large amounts of wood from fallen trees and branches. However, some fungal species turn out to be pathogenic to host trees, and in the case of MOB, one particular fungal associate, Raffaelea montetyii, is capable of killing some species of North American oaks.

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