Joseph S. Elkinton
Professor of Entomology, UMass Amherst
With the winter moth now invading New England’s trees, attention is being given to long-term monitoring of its life stages and how to control the spread of this leaf-feeding pest. The December 2009 counts suggest that this spring the larvae will be at the highest population on record. Now more than ever we need to focus on ways to eliminate this new pest that is invading New England’s trees.
Join Dr. Joe Elkinton of the UMASS Amherst Entomology Department on Monday, March 15 at 7:00 pm when he will give a program called Winter Moth: A New Invasion of New England. Dr Elkinton, who has recruited Mother Nature in building a “dream team” to fight the winter moth, has been working on non-toxic control measures of this forest pest since 2005 and will describe efforts underway to establish a highly specialized natural enemy that attacks only winter moth caterpillars. Dr. Elkinton will also describe ways to protect other ornamental trees.Dr. Elkinton’s research focuses on the population dynamics of forest insects and using natural predators to manage pests. Much of his work has focused on the study of enemies of the gypsy moth. More recently Dr. Elkinton’s research has focused on enemies of the woolly adelgid which destroys hemlocks. Dr. Elkinton is the author of numerous articles and books on entomology and forest ecology.
This event is co-sponsored by the Newton Conservators, the Newton Tree Conservancy, Green Decade/Newton, Newton Community Farm, Friends of Hemlock Gorge, and the Newton Free Library.
