PPH reports on UMaine browntail moth research
The Portland Press Herald reported on University of Maine research investigating whether it’s possible to disrupt the mating patterns of the browntail moth as a way to curtail populations and limit the range of the forest pests. The research team, led by Angela Mech, assistant professor of forest entomology at the UMaine, has landed $325,000 in grants to test whether dispersing a synthetically made product designed to mimic the sex pheromones of the female browntail moth can confuse enough male moths to drastically reduce their ability to reproduce. The goal of the university researchers is to find out how to drive down the browntail moth population in an environmentally friendly way. Mech sums up the mission in six words: “Save our trees. Save our skin.” Yahoo! Sports shared the PPH report.