ITHACA, N.Y. If you live in a section of the country where gypsy moths are a relatively new menace, have no fear, help is not far behind.
Cornell University entomologist Ann Hajek told a national conference earlier this month that when the gypsy moth whose caterpillars have defoliated entire forests started spreading westward more than 100 years ago from New England to Wisconsin, its fungal and viral pathogens followed close behind.
"We were pretty surprised," Hajek says. "No one knew how long it took the pathogens to chase their hosts."
The findings are important because gypsy moth populations can develop unpredictably and erratically, with lots of caterpillars eating all the leaves off of most of the trees, Hajek told attendees at the Cornell-hosted Eighth Annual Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease workshop and conference, June 3-4, in Ithaca. Land managers, she says, can rest assured that pathogens will follow the migrating moths, providing natural controls.
Gypsy moths are slowly moving west across the United States after being introduced to Massachusetts from Europe in 1869. They migrate slowly because the females do not fly. By tracking the edges of the migration, where population densities are low, researchers have an opportunity to investigate how long it takes their viral and fungal pathogens to catch up, Hajek says.
The fungal pathogen, entomophaga maimaiga, was first reported in 1989 and attacks the caterpillars. The virus, lymantria dispar nucleopolyhedrovirus, which was accidentally introduced near Boston in 1906, also infects gypsy moth caterpillars.
Hajek and colleagues studied "leading edge" populations of moths and pathogens in central Wisconsin in 2005-07. They set pheromone traps west of the migrating population and then traveled east to lay traps to catch the flying males. Once their traps caught more than 74 moths each in single year, there was a more than 50 percent chance of
'/>"/>
| Contact: John Carberry jjc338@cornell.edu 607-255-5353 Cornell University Source:Eurekalert |
Related biology news :
1. Gypsy moth management made more efficient, cost-effective
2. Resilient gypsy moth continues to shrug off best pesticides
3. Moths with a nose for learning
4. Migratory moths may hitch their rides, but theyre anything but drifters
5. New discovery suggests mammoths survived in Britain until 14,000 years ago
6. Moths cloaked in color
7. After mastodons and mammoths, a transformed landscape
8. Why female moths are big and beautiful
9. ESF EURYI award winner aims to stop cancer cells reading their own DNA
10. Elephantnose fish see with their chin
11. Flies can turn off their immune response
| Copyright © 2003-2012 Bio-Medicine. All rights reserved. ABOUT | CONTACT US | DISCLAIMER | PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS AND CONDITIONS |  |