Media interview Mech on what could cause browntail moth population collapse
The Portland Press Herald and WGME (CBS 13 in Portland) interviewed Angela Mech, an assistant professor of forest entomology at the University of Maine, on conditions that could cause a decrease in the population size of browntail moth caterpillars. Their microscopic hairs travel through the air and cause an itchy rash in humans, but a natural fungus, entomophaga aulicae, that is spread in rainy and cool conditions kills the caterpillars. Mech and a team of students and employees at UMaine gather samples from the insects’ nests and research Maine’s browntail moth infestation. She said an outbreak of the fungus in the fall followed by another one in the spring is promising for a population collapse.