WOOSTER, Ohio — The native North American ash tree’s future rests in the ability of researchers to create a new variety with the right genetic traits to withstand its greatest nemesis: the emerald ash borer (EAB).

Scientists with Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) have received a three-year, $1.4 million grant to continue their groundbreaking work toward the development of a tree that can be used for preservation of ash in natural and urban forests. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) provided the funds.

An accidental import from Asia, EAB is an invasive insect that has killed millions of ash trees in the eastern U.S., the Midwest and Canada. It is so devastating that virtually all ash trees within 31 miles of the initial EAB infestation in southeastern Michigan are now dead. And the tiny beetle is predicted to cause an unprecedented $10-$20 billion in losses to urban forests over the next decade.

The EAB-resistant tree project  — which began in 2003, one yearr after the first U.S. EAB infestation was confirmed near Detroit — is aa collaboration between Ohio State, Wright State University, Michigan State University and the U.S. Forest Service. It involves an interdisciplinary team of entomologists, plant pathologists, biologists and ecologists.

Indeed, researchers in Herms’ team have confirmed that Asian ash tree species (such as Manchurian ash) are naturally resistant to EAB because of their evolutionary history with the insect. In separate experiments, they also found that this resistance trait is shared by saplings propagated from parent trees.

Later on, team scientists working in Pierluigi Bonello’s lab at Ohio State and Don Cipollini’s lab at Wright State identified certain compounds (secondary metabolites and defense proteins) in the phloem tissue of resistant Asian trees that may be responsible for such resistance. Phloem is the living tissue just under the bark that carries water and nutrients throughout the tree. It is also the part of the tree in which EAB larvae live and feed – ultimately choking the tree to death.

Using functional genomics, research-ers have compared resistant Asian species with susceptible North American species at the genetic level — identifying in the process severall candidate genes that could be used to breed a hybrid tree that still looks like a native North American ash but carries resistance to EAB like the Asian types. They have also identified genes in EAB larvae that potentially allow them to detoxify, or get rid of, defenses or stressors generated by ash trees in response to EAB attacks.

Moreover, through extensive surveys conducted in Michigan and Ohio, members of the team have discovered a small number of healthy native ash trees in heavily EAB-infested areas where more than 99 percent of all ashes have died. These so-called “lingering” ash trees will be studied as part of the new grant to find out what’s responsible for their survival.

URBANA, Ill. — Researchers at the University of Illinois are preparing to develop an educational and research facility that will be used to demonstrate the process of converting swine manure and algae into crude oil.

Lance Schideman, a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE) at Illinois, has done significant research in the area of integrated algae systems for water purification and biomass production. Yuanhui Zhang, also a professor in ABE, has spent almost a decade researching the conversion of swine manure into crude oil. Now they have combined their efforts to develop a system that will use biowastes such as swine manure to grow algal biomass, purify wastewater, recycle nutrients, capture carbon dioxide and produce biofuels. 

“With this system, we will first convert swine manure into crude oil in a hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) reactor,” Schideman said.  “The resultant wastewater contains nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, which can be used to grow algae. These fast-growing algae will remove the excess nutrients and capture carbon dioxide.  Finally, the algae will be fed back into the HTL reactor to be converted into additional biocrude oil.” Schideman said that the first stage of the project should allow them to produce up to two gallons of crude oil per day, using manure and algae grown on site. A second phase is also being planned that will produce up to two barrels of oil per day. 

Schideman said that while they have shown that all parts of this process are viable, “we haven’t brought them together in one continuous process, so that’s the main goal of the current project.”

The facility will be located at the Swine Research Center (SRC) on the U of I South Farms, and developed in collaboration with the Department of Animal Sciences. “They have about 3,000 pigs at the SRC, and right now the manure lagoon is currently discharged to the local sanitary sewer at significant expense,” said Schideman. “One immediate benefit for them would be a substantial reduction in their sewer bill, but hopefully, the longer term benefit would be value-added co-products from their residuals management system.”

Ultimately, Schideman said they hope the laboratory at the SRC will become a cutting-edge facility for applied research and education on novel processes that convert agricultural residuals into valuable bioenergy and biochemical resources, while also providing significant environmental benefits. “Right now we are developing strategic partnerships with stakeholders including producers, equipment manufacturers, academics, extension specialists and co-product end users, to maximize the impact of this new research and extension facility,” said Schideman. 

For more information, please visit Environment Enhancing Energy at www.e2-energy.illinois.edu/ or UIUC Illini Algae at http://algae.illinois.edu/