Mashpee 4th Graders Propose Gypsy Moth Controls
LANNAN M. O’BRIEN | Posted: Thursday, November 6, 2014 8:57 am
There was no fidgeting, chatting, or misbehavior in Quashnet
teacher Katie Martin’s 4th grade class on Monday, November 3. Instead,
students sat quietly in their seats, attention focused on guest
presenter Hannah Nadel, a supervisory entomologist at the US Department
of Agriculture laboratory on Otis Air National Guard Base.
The
event was the culmination of a unit on the gypsy moth caterpillar in Ms.
Martin’s two STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and
mathematics) classes, for which students completed a life cycle lab with
the Thornton Burgess Society and designed controls for the invasive
species. The goal of the project, Ms. Martin wrote in an e-mail, was to
engage students in real-life problem solving that requires higher-level
thinking rather than memorization.
Dr. Nadel, who studies insect reproduction for her
work, was invited to share her knowledge of the gypsy moth caterpillar
and to critique students’ control designs.
Ms. Martin explained that at the base, there are security measures to keep the insects inside.
“We call it a containment facility,” Dr. Nadel said
to the students during the first of two workshops that day. She
described the damage that the invasive species can cause to local trees
and other plants. People often think of trees as “big and strong,” she
said, “but if caterpillars eat most of a tree’s leaves year after year,
that tree will die.”
Following Dr. Nadel’s presentation, four students
were invited to share their gypsy moth caterpillar control designs, each
of which included a report describing their design accompanied by a
drawing. Rhiannon J. Raymond proposed a trap that attracts male gypsy
moths using a chemical-free scent that mimics that of the female gypsy
moth. When the male lands on the structure, comprising “a circle with a
dome on it,” she said, the dome opens and the moth is sucked inside.
“No more egg masses, no more caterpillars, no more pupas,” Rhiannon said matter-of-factly. “Problem solved.”
Dr. Nadel complimented Rhiannon’s strategy of using
the species’ natural behavior against them, and said that similar traps
exist currently and more are being developed. However, there was one
problem.
“How do we get the traps out there?” she said, and
Rhiannon said that people would have to set the traps. In that case, Dr.
Nadel said, the plan could be expensive: workers might have to be paid
$12 or $13 per hour to place the traps in remote areas with concentrated
populations of gypsy moths.
Kimberly J. Lemelin, too, said she planned to use the
female gypsy moth scent to trap males. Instead of a dome trap, she
would create a scented soap and place it in a bucket of water. Attracted
to the female scent, male gypsy moths will fly into the bucket and
drown.
When the buckets are full, she said that they will be dumped in the trash
“If they are left out there something bad could
happen because an animal could drink some of [the soapy water] and get
sick or hurt,” Kimberly said. “another reason is because I didn’t want
it to go into a water resource.”
Dr. Nadel liked the idea of using a soap that would
create a film on the water’s surface, making it difficult for male gypsy
moths to escape, and lauded Kimberly’s concern for human safety as well
as the environment.
Erin M. Smith and Harrison J. Dwinger each proposed
vacuum-like structures. Erin’s technology would be designed to destroy
gypsy moth caterpillar egg masses, while Harry’s would “suck up”
caterpillars in the larval stage. When asked how the trap would
differentiate the caterpillars from non-invasive species, Harry said
that his design would include a small video camera to identify the
insects it traps and sort them into separate containers.
“I like the fact that it’s environmentally safe,” Dr.
Nadel said of Erin’s “egg mass fighter,” but added that it would take a
long time to eliminate the invasive species in North America using that
technology.
She said that Harrison’s proposal resembles traps
that scientists are using today. Like his, the traps recognize
particular insects in order to target the invasive species.
“I’m very impressed that you thought of that,” Dr. Nadel said.
