University of Richmond issued the following announcement on Jun. 9.
Kristine Grayson, associate professor of biology, has been awarded nearly $75,000 from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to fund a research project focusing on the box tree moth, an invasive pest detrimental to boxwoods when they are caterpillars.
This funding will support a collaboration with the Plant Protection and Quarantine Otis Lab to develop sterilization techniques for box tree moth larvae.
"The box tree moth is originally from eastern Asia and is currently a highly damaging invasive species in Europe, with recent detections in Canada,” Grayson said. “The U.S. nursey industry is at high risk for the spread of box tree moth on boxwood plants, and the primary purpose of this research is to safeguard nursery plants and minimize the incidence, severity, and spread of the box tree moth if or when it arrives in the U.S."
Grayson, a field ecologist, has taught at UR since 2015 and has received funding from the Jeffress Trust and the National Science Foundation for her research in invasion ecology.
Original source can be found here.
Source: University of Richmond
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