Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Discovery May Help Defeat Gypsy Moth
LA (USA), 28 November: Ecologists have spotted a never-before-seen pattern in encroachment of gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) in northeastern United States. The moths' invasion occurs in periodic pulses rather than as a smooth wave- controlling population peaks at frontiers may therefore help to fight their spread.
Gypsy moth invasion is arguably the most intensively studied species invasion in history. Since its accidental release near Boston in 1869, the species has swarmed across more than a million square kilometers of United States, defoliating up to 50,000 square kilometers of forest each year.
By analyzing more than four decades' worth of data stretching back to 1960, researchers led by Derek Johnson have spotted that the moths' spread happens in pulses, which occur roughly every four years. As they explain in this week's Nature, this is probably because moths that spread far beyond the current frontier cannot establish breeding populations unless they colonize in sufficient numbers. Thus, moths can spread only at times when their populations are high and so targeting large groups of moths near the edges of the current distribution could help to slow their advance.
(ResearchSEA)
Gypsy moth invasion is arguably the most intensively studied species invasion in history. Since its accidental release near Boston in 1869, the species has swarmed across more than a million square kilometers of United States, defoliating up to 50,000 square kilometers of forest each year.
By analyzing more than four decades' worth of data stretching back to 1960, researchers led by Derek Johnson have spotted that the moths' spread happens in pulses, which occur roughly every four years. As they explain in this week's Nature, this is probably because moths that spread far beyond the current frontier cannot establish breeding populations unless they colonize in sufficient numbers. Thus, moths can spread only at times when their populations are high and so targeting large groups of moths near the edges of the current distribution could help to slow their advance.
(ResearchSEA)
# posted by mediabhartiwebsolutions @ 5:31 AM 
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