Gypsy Moth Research Paper

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Moths, scientifically classified in the order of Lepidoptera, are a common type of insect throughout the world. You may have spotted one of these fly into your house at night if you leave the door open, or possibly a crowd of them if you have a light source placed outdoors in the dark. Some of these moths are notorious of damaging wool clothing, invading and infesting pantries as well as other dark areas, and even destroying forests. Others however, can be harmless to man. Some can even help the ecosystem by being almost as good of pollinators as butterflies or bees. They are also significant since they are a decent portion of the food chain for organisms like birds or other mammals. There are many varieties of moth species, each with slightly different biological routines than others. For now, however, the focus will be on the Gypsy moth; an insect infamous for …show more content…

Later on in the 1860s, the pests were accidentally introduced into Boston, causing massive outbreaks from there to other areas like North America soon after. The Gypsy moths feed on the leaves of trees, although primarily on the foliage of oak and aspen trees. This may not seem like the biggest problem at first, but the reason this was an issue was because they devoured them and went to the next source of vegetation at an alarmingly fast rate, destroying a lot of the forest life in it's path. The fact that the moths reproduced quickly and created large amounts of offspring didn't help make the situation any better. There have been many attempts to get rid of these moths; some worked temporarily, but then the insects would somehow come back and continue their cycle as usual. Even now, these moths have not been successfully eradicated yet, and still are growing in numbers to this day, although they are not as terribly overpopulated as they were back in the eighteenth

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