Like a Moth to a ... Piece of Plastic

An anonymous writer sends: "Cook and DuPage counties in Illinois are attempting to deal with their gypsy moth problem by bombarding the moth population with female moth pheromone coated plastic flakes. This will overwhelm the males sensory organs, and inhibit their future reproduction. It will only require about 15 grams of flakes to cover each acre."

Elsewhere in the news

[Flarners]

Cook and DuPage counties in Illinois are attempting to deal with their Linux user problem by bombarding the geek population with PowerBooks and RealDolls. This will overwhelm the nerds' sensory organs, and inhibit their future open-source coding binges.

Re:Elsewhere in the news

[digitalmuse]

bwahaa! mod[funny+1]!

Remember the "sterile" medflies?

[macdaddy357]

Pheremone covered plastic flakes will probably work as well as the "sterile" meditaranean fruit flies Jerry "Governor Moonbeam" Brown released in California to combat the fruit fly problem. They were fertile. It got worse. I wonder if the Governor of Illinois is going to get himself a nickname over this one.

Re:Remember the "sterile" medflies?

[Oily Tuna]

It's guaranteed to work better than the Californian experiment. The flakes cannot make things worse because they don't reproduce!

The Gypsy Moth pheremone is an attractant, not a stimulant, so another bad scenario - the male moths find the female and are extra randy - cannot happen either.

However, one should not underestimate nature. There could be unforeseen side-effects.

Re:Remember the "sterile" medflies?

[sholden]

The Gypsy Moth pheremone is an attractant, not a stimulant, so another bad scenario - the male moths find the female and are extra randy - cannot happen either.

However, one should not underestimate nature. There could be unforeseen side-effects.

Like the flakes producing a pheremone concentration that attracts all the moths on the planet to one area. Causing an imbalance in the weight distribution of the planet and the death of us all!!!!!!!

1981, irradiation, Brown?

[texchanchan]

That was 1981. The flies weren't irradiated enough--which was an industrial accident of sorts, not enough quality control at the insect irradiating plant (which was in Mexico). I don't think you can blame careless procedure in a foreign production facility on the governor of California no matter how much you personally dislike him.

More info

[texchanchan]

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/dec97/moth12 97.htm [usda.gov] Popular-style article
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides/factsh eets/fs-generic_lep.htm [epa.gov] very technical, EPA-oriented
http://www.wcrl.ars.usda.gov/cec/papers/jce93-9.ht m [usda.gov] Article about an insect population simulation program.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2174.html [osu.edu] Using bt instead
http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/rhgiles/Trevey/Gypsy.htm [vt.edu] Vermont, long piece, "gyplure"
http://www.orst.edu/instruction/bi301/chemcont.htm [orst.edu] Dr. Pat Muir's notes for a college class, short, readable. Excerpt:
"The advantages of pheromone use include the facts that they:

* are nontoxic
* are biodegradable
* can be used at low concentrations
* are highly species specific

Hazards or difficulties associated with their use include the facts that:

* resistance to pheromones could potentially evolve (although it would then be difficult for insects to find mates!)
* it is expensive and takes a long time to achieve commercial production."
More than you wanted to know about gypsy moths [umn.edu]

In reading up about this I found that some of the same people who don't like pesticides also don't like Bt and pheromones. You wonder how they're going to like a deforested Pacific Northwest if those moths get loose up there.

P.S. URL for the meetup [meetup.com]

Re:More info

[MindStalker]

As long as you only used the pheromones in certain areas I don't see much possibilities of evolution. Yes, they might evolve, but stop using the pheromones in that area temporarly, let them mix with other moths that can use pheromones, and see which wins?? hmmm.... I'm placing by bets on pheromone using moths.

Re:Woah

[xinu]

Flamebait? I thought I was funny. Go figure.

Re:I wonder ......

[unhooked]

Or how about dem trailer parks up'n round sacrementoe

Great.

[Xenothaulus]

I know, let's dump a bunch of plastic covered in moth-semen in the woods. THAT'LL get rid of them. Wait, what do you mean, pollution?

Re:Great.

[anotherone]

15 grams/acre isn't pollution, dipshit.