American Gypsy Research Articles

Spatiotemporal variability in Allee effects of invading gypsy moth populations

The Allee threshold, the critical population density separating growth from decline in populations experiencing strong Allee effects, can vary over space and time but few empirical studies have examined this variation. A lack of geographically extensive, long-term studies on low density population dynamics makes studying variability in Allee effects difficult. We used North American gypsy moth population data from 1996 to 2016 to quantify Allee thresholds in 11 regions of the invasion front. Allee thresholds spanned a continuum from being undetectable due to strong population growth at all densities, to being unmeasurable because populations declined across all densities. The lag-1 temporal autocorrelation in Allee thresholds tended to be negative and spatial synchrony in Allee thresholds extended no further than adjacent regions. This work furthers understanding of spatiotemporal variation in Allee effects using extensive empirical data at the range edge of an invasive insect.

Oksana Marafioti: Translating Identities

Abstract Language use is the consequence of certain dynamics in people’s lives. It is obvious that translation implies, even etymologically, movement, mobility, exchange. These phenomena are more topical than ever nowadays, in the age of globalization. In the present essay, I analyze the translation of identities in the work of Oksana Marafioti, a contemporary writer of Roma origins who emigrated from the Soviet Union to the United States of America. Her memoir American Gypsy is an effort to trans-late towards a multiple, volatile, fluid identity where the languages spoken by Marafioti lead to belongings and rejections. The author records, in exquisite wording, the painful process of translating from a culture to another culture, from a language to another language.

A Phenology Model for Asian Gypsy Moth Egg Hatch.

Phenology models are useful tools in pest management interventions, biosecurity operations targeting alien invaders, and answering questions regarding the potential for range expansion/shift. The Gypsy Moth Life Stage model (GLS) has been used to predict the invasive range of the North American gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar dispar Linnaeus [Lepidoptera: Erebidae]) in North America and New Zealand. It has been used to examine the role of supra-optimal temperatures in range expansion/stasis/retraction. However, GLS has also been used where the target organism is the Asian subspecies L. d. asiatica Vnukovskij, despite observed differences between the predominant phenotypes of the two subspecies in the temperature requirements for egg hatch and the absence of egg phenology model parameters specific to the Asian phenotype. Here we describe the results of temperature and exposure duration on the timing of Asian gypsy moth egg hatch, and we present phenology model parameters for the Asian phenotype. Sum of squared differences (observed minus predicted day of median egg hatch) was reduced from 7,818 d2 (North American parameters) to 178 d2. Days of simulated median egg hatch differed from the observed days by 0-7 d (x¯=0.2;SD=3.1). The pattern of simulated egg hatch closely mimicked the irregular pattern of observed egg hatch from the temperature regimes of our experiment. Egg hatch is arguably the most important life cycle event in gypsy moth population suppression/eradication interventions and in estimating their potential invasive range. The model parameters described here produce accurate predictions of Asian gypsy moth egg hatch.

Effects of Temperature on Development of Lymantria dispar asiatica and Lymantria dispar japonica (Lepidoptera: Erebidae).

Periodic introductions of the Asian subspecies of gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar asiatica Vnukovskij and Lymantria dispar japonica Motschulsky, in North America are threatening forests and interrupting foreign trade. Although Asian gypsy moth has similar morphology to that of European and North American gypsy moth, it has several traits that make it a greater threat, the most important being the flight capability of females. Asian gypsy moth is not yet established in North America; however, infestations have been detected multiple times in Canada and the United States. To facilitate detection and eradication efforts, we evaluated the effect of a range of temperatures on development time, survivorship, and fertility of eight populations of Asian gypsy moth. There were significant impacts of temperature and population on these life history characteristics. The larval developmental rate increased with temperature until it reached an optimum at 29 °C. Larvae experienced significant molting problems at the highest and lowest temperatures tested (10 °C and 30 °C). At 30 °C, female fitness was markedly compromised, as evidenced by reduced fecundity and fertility. This suggests that development and survival of Asian gypsy moth may be limited by summer temperature extremes in the Southern United States. We also determined the degree-day requirements for two critical life stages and two populations of Asian gypsy moth, which represent the extremes in latitude, to predict the timing for biopesticide application and adult trap deployment. Our data will benefit pest managers in developing management strategies, pest risk assessments, and timing for implementation of management tactics.

‘An Egiptian and noe Xtian Woman’: Gypsy Identity and Race Law in Early America

Though many scholars have referenced Joan Scott as the earliest Gypsy in North America, thanks to a 1695 Henrico County Virginia court record identifying her as “an Egiptian and noe Xtian woman,” none have explored her life further. Despite this, an examination of the fornication charge against Scott suggests much about her life. Scott entered the colony twenty years before her fornication charge and while unmarried bore a child whose father the court considered a man of color. In these ways, Scott’s life appears similar to her contemporaries. Yet, in other ways Scott’s experience differed. By allowing the court to believe in her Gypsy identity and non-Christian religion she worked the court in her favor and saw her case dismissed. When historicized and contextualized, the meager details known about Joan Scott enhance our understanding of the colonial American Gypsy experience and contribute to a broader American historical narrative.

Tales of Time and Space: Part-home, part-library and a fully functioning escape vehicle

For the 2008 Folkestone Triennial artists Heather and Ivan Morsion developed the work Tales of Time and Space, transforming a 1954 Green Goddess fire engine into a self-sufficient house truck and library. The library was comprised entirely of apocalypse-themed fiction with the interior’s soft furnishings fashioned from atomic era fabric. Housing a library that contained various visions of the future, the fictional accounts served as handbooks for the occupant—presenting a playful take on how to survive the coming apocalypse. Throughout the duration of the Triennial, the mobile library parked at different sites across Folkstone, inviting local residents to spend time inside, browsing through the collection of dystopian science-fiction whilst enjoying a nice cup of tea brewed on the truck's wood burning stove. The artwork draws on both a tradition of West Coast American house trucks, in particular the Californian New American Gypsy Movement, which sought to escape modern society and a history of mobile libraries. Reflecting upon the Morison’s work the essay discusses a notion of the library as a space of both escape and home.

Representing Romani Gypsies and Travelers: Performing Identity from Early Photography to Reality Television

Images of Romani Gypsies and Travelers abound in popular culture and the press, feeding into a series of stereotypes that appear to have survived largely unchanged for well over 200 years. With Romani and Traveler communities increasingly at the center of important debates on the treatment of migrants and ethnic minorities in Europe, these representations offer important insights into when and why Roma communities are sometimes conveniently visible or invisible, and how national and EU actors use their (in)visibility to make particular claims about solutions to discrimination. This article argues that although Roma and Traveler representations continue to follow traditional stereotypes, there is a noticeable change in their nature and the role that they play in both Roma and non-Roma communities. By juxtaposing iconic photographic representations of Gypsies by Josef Koudelka in 1960s Czechoslovakia and the rise of new reality TV series such as My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and American Gypsies, this article aims to show the nature of change in Romani and Traveler representations and how they perform their collective identities.

Host specificity of microsporidia pathogenic to the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.): Field studies in Slovakia

Several species of microsporidia are important chronic pathogens of Lymantria dispar in Europe but have never been recovered from North American gypsy moth populations. The major issue for their introduction into North American L. dispar populations is concern about their safety to native non-target insects. In this study, we evaluated the susceptibility of sympatric non-target Lepidoptera to two species of microsporidia, Nosema lymantriae and Vairimorpha disparis, isolated from European populations of L. dispar and applied in field plots in Slovakia. Application of ultra low volume sprays of the microsporidia maximized coverage of infective spores in a complex natural environment and, thus, exposure of non-target species to the pathogens. Of 653 non-target larvae collected from plots treated with V. disparis in 2002, 18 individual larvae representing nine species in four families were infected. These plots were monitored for two subsequent seasons and V. disparis was not recovered from non-target species. Of 2571 non-target larvae collected in N. lymantriae-treated sites, one larva was found to be infected. Both species of microsporidia, particularly N. lymantriae, appear to have a very narrow host range in the field, even when an inundative technique is used for their introduction. V. disparis infections in L. dispar exceeded 40% of recovered larvae in the treated study sites; infection rates were lower in sites sprayed with N. lymantriae. Several naturally-occurring pathogens were recorded from the non-target species. The most common pathogen, isolated from 21 species in eight families, was a microsporidium in the genus Cystosporogenes.

Geographic variation in North American gypsy moth cycles: subharmonics, generalist predators, and spatial coupling

Many defoliating forest lepidopterans cause predictable periodic deforestation. Several of these species exhibit geographical variation in both the strength of periodic behavior and the frequency of cycles. The mathematical models used to describe the population dynamics of such species commonly predict that gradual variation in the underlying ecological mechanisms may lead to punctuated (subharmonic) variation in outbreak cycles through period-doubling cascades. Gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar, in its recently established range in the northeastern United States may represent an unusually clear natural manifestation of this phenomenon. In this study we introduce a new statistical spatial-smoothing method for estimating outbreak periodicity from space-time defoliation data collected with spatial error. The method statistically confirms the existence of subharmonic variation in cyclicity among different forest types. Some xeric forest types exhibit a statistical 4-5 year period in outbreak dynamics, some mesic forest types a 9-10 year period, and some intermediate forest types a dominant 9-10 year period with a 4-5 year subdominant superharmonic. We then use a theoretical model involving gypsy moth, pathogens, and predators to investigate the possible role of geographical variation in generalist predator populations as the cause of this variation in dynamics. The model predicts that the period of gypsy moth oscillations should be positively associated with predator carrying capacity and that variation in the carrying capacity provides a parsimonious explanation of previous reports of geographical variation in gypsy moth periodicity. Furthermore, a two-patch spatial extension of the model shows that, in the presence of spatial coupling, subharmonic attractors can coexist whereas nonharmonic attractors (i.e., where the cycle lengths are not integer multiples of one another) cannot.

Host‐Pathogen Interactions, Insect Outbreaks, and Natural Selection for Disease Resistance

The theory of insect population dynamics has shown that heterogeneity in natural-enemy attack rates is strongly stabilizing. We tested the usefulness of this theory for outbreaking insects, many of which are attacked by infectious pathogens. We measured heterogeneity among gypsy moth larvae in their risk of infection with a nucleopolyhedrovirus, which is effectively heterogeneity in the pathogen's attack rate. Our data show that heterogeneity in infection risk in this insect is so high that it leads to a stable equilibrium in the models, which is inconsistent with the outbreaks seen in North American gypsy moth populations. Our data further suggest that infection risk declines after epidemics, in turn suggesting that the model assumption of constant infection risk is incorrect. We therefore constructed an alternative model in which natural selection drives fluctuations in infection risk, leading to reductions after epidemics because of selection for resistance and increases after epidemics because of a cost of resistance. This model shows cycles even for high heterogeneity, and experiments confirm that infection risk is indeed heritable. The model is very general, and so we argue that natural selection for disease resistance may play a role in many insect outbreaks.

Using Mechanistic Models to Understand Synchrony in Forest Insect Populations: The North American Gypsy Moth as a Case Study

In many forest insects, subpopulations fluctuate concurrently across large geographical areas, a phenomenon known as population synchrony. Because of the large spatial scales involved, empirical tests to identify the causes of synchrony are often impractical. Simple models are, therefore, a useful aid to understanding, but data often seem to contradict model predictions. For instance, chaotic population dynamics and limited dispersal are not uncommon among synchronous forest defoliators, yet both make it difficult to achieve synchrony in simple models. To test whether this discrepancy can be explained by more realistic models, we introduced dispersal and spatially correlated stochasticity into a mechanistic population model for the North American gypsy moth Lymantria dispar. The resulting model shows both chaotic dynamics and spatial synchrony, suggesting that chaos and synchrony can be reconciled by the incorporation of realistic dynamics and spatial structure. By relating alterations in model structure to changes in synchrony levels, we show that the synchrony is due to a combination of spatial covariance in environmental stochasticity and the origins of chaos in our multispecies model.

Growth of newly established alien populations: comparison of North American gypsy moth colonies with invasion theory

AbstractA common characteristic observed in many biological invasions is the existence of a lag between the time of arrival by the alien population and the time when established populations are noticed. Considerable advances have been made in modeling the expansion of invading species, and there is often remarkable congruence between the behavior of these models with spread of actual populations. While these models have been used to characterize expansion of very newly founded colonies, there have been few attempts to compare the behavior predicted from theory with spread in actual newly founded populations, largely due to the difficulty of sampling sparse populations. Models predict that time lags in the radial expansion of newly invaded populations may be due to time requirements for the population to grow from founding to detectable levels. Models also indicate that these time lags can be predicted based upon population parameters such as the intrinsic rate of population growth and diffusion coefficient. In this paper, we compared the behavior of these models with historical data on gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar, establishment and spread to show similarities between model predictions and observed population spread, both of which exhibited temporal lags of expansion. However, actual populations exhibited certain behaviors that were not predicted, and this could be due, in part, to the existence of Allee effects and stochasticity. Further work that incorporates these effects is needed to more fully understand the growth of incipient colonies of invading species. Ultimately, this information can be of critical importance in the selection of effective strategies for their detection and eradication.

Virulence and fitness of the fungal pathogen Entomophaga maimaiga in its host Lymantria dispar, for pathogen and host strains originating from Asia, Europe, and North America

In this study, we tested (1) whether non-North American gypsy moth strains are susceptible to North American isolates of Entomophaga maimaiga and (2) the potential for erosion in the efficacy of E. maimaiga in controlling gypsy moth. We used bioassays to assess the variability in virulence (measured as time to death) as well as fitness of the pathogen (measured as spore production) in four gypsy strains challenged with six E. maimaiga isolates, using host and pathogen strains originating from Asia, Europe, and North America. We found that all E. maimaiga isolates tested were pathogenic to all strains of Lymantria dispar, regardless of the geographical origin of the fungal isolate, with at least 86% mortality for all combinations of fungal isolate and gypsy moth strain. We therefore conclude that Asian gypsy moths are susceptible to North American strains of E. maimaiga. No significant interactions between fungal isolates and gypsy moth strains with regard to time to death were found, indicating that each fungal isolate had the same overall effect on all the gypsy moth strains tested. However, fungal isolates differed significantly with regard to virulence, with a Russian isolate being the slowest to kill gypsy moth (5.1 ± 0.1 days) and a Japanese isolate being the overall fastest to kill its host (4.0 ± 0.1 days). Fungal isolates also differed in fitness, with variability in types of spores produced. These differences in virulence and fitness were, however, not correlated with geographical origin of the fungal isolate. Gypsy moth strains had no or only little effect on fungal virulence and fitness. Based on our studies with laboratory-reared gypsy moth strains, erosion of successful control of gypsy moth by E. maimaiga seems unlikely.

American Gypsy: Six Native American Plays (review)

Reviewed by: American Gypsy: Six Native American Plays Patrice Hollrah (bio) Diane Glancy . American Gypsy: Six Native American Plays. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 2002. xi + 224 pp. Diane Glancy (Cherokee/English/German) has an impressive record of awards for her prolific publications of fiction, poetry, essays, and plays. To her previously published collection of plays, fiar Cries (1996), she adds American Gypsy: Six Native American Plays (2002), which include The Woman Who Was a Red Deer Dressed for the Deer Dance, The Women Who Loved House Trailers, American Gypsy, Jump Kiss, The Lesser Wars, and The Toad (Another Name for the Moon) Should Have a Bite. This collection explores themes of history, myth, Christianity, gender, acculturation, and love in monologues and multi-character pieces of varying lengths. The title of the collection, American Gypsy, resonates on several levels with the history of Native Americans and specifically the Cherokees. First, the descriptor alludes to Native Americans as people who have migrated, much as the nomadic people known as gypsies migrated from the border region between Iran and India to Europe in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. However, Glancy refers to Native Americans who have a history of migrating within the borders of America, referring not only to the traditional migrations but also to the enforced migrations, such as the Trail of Tears and removals to reservations. Second, American theatrical actors are known as "gypsies" because they are on the road, moving from one production to another, often living out of their suitcases, creating their own personal migrations. In the play of the same title, Glancy offers her definition of American Gypsy: "An American Gypsy is a Native American who knows migration and rootlessness" (43). Thus the characterization of Native Americans as "American Gypsy" portrays Native actors as the original theatrical performers on this continent, tied to a political and geographical place, and involved in a communal expression of art. An epigraph, attributed as "From the Cherokee," opens the collection of six plays and suggests one of the dominant themes—the importance [End Page 97] of words: "A stage is suspended in the air. The earth hangs beneath it on cords. As long as the voices last, the cords will not break. But when the voices fail, the earth will fall into the chaos below" (v). The importance of the dialogue in the theater of life on earth suggests that the survival and continuance of the Cherokees is subject to the script of human interaction that stories, or in this case plays, provide. The voices, or the lines that people speak, carry the breath of life that creates balance and harmony on the earth. Without the nurturing voices, life falls into disorder. As Glancy writes in the preface, "[Script] coalesces the array of arbitrary elements into patterns of images upon which the action rides" (xi). She poetically defines "script," the dialogue, as the glue that holds together the setting for life's action, another image of words as the sustenance needed for human relationships. Although the title of the collection lacks tribal specificity, the epigraph connotes the playwright's Cherokee worldview as informing her creative writing. In The Woman Who Was a Red Deer Dressed for the Deer Dance, Glancy uses Ahw'uste, a Cherokee mythological spirit deer to illustrate the generational challenges to understanding between a grandmother and her granddaughter. Glancy wants to "combine the overlapping realities of myth, imagination, and memory with spaces for the silences" (4). The grandmother made a red-deer dress to draw closer to Ahw'uste, but the granddaughter has no time for the traditional spirits when she has no education or money and needs to find work. The grandmother says, "My deer dress is the way I felt, transformed by the power of ceremony;" and "We're carriers of our stories and histories. We're nothing without them" (14). By the end of the play, the granddaughter glimpses an understanding of her grandmother's world and says, "I'm sewing my own red-deer dress. It's different than my grandma's. Mine is a dress of words. [. . .] I've learned she told me more without speaking than she did with her words" (18...

American Gypsy: Six Native American Plays

In a collection of six plays, Diane Glancy uses a melange of voices to invoke the myths and realities of modern Native life. Glancy intermixes poetry and prose to address themes of gender, generational relationships, acculturation, myth, and tensions between Christianity and traditional Native belief systems. six plays included, The Woman Who Was a Red Deer Dressed for the Deer Dance, The Women Who Loved House Trailers, American Gypsy, Jump Kiss, Lesser Wars, and The Toad (Another Name for the Moon) Should Have a Bite, run the gamut from monologues to multi-character pieces and vary in length from fifteen minutes to over an hour. Glancy concludes the collection with a thought-provoking essay on Native playwriting.

American Gypsy: A Stranger in Everybody's Land:American Gypsy: A Stranger in Everybody's Land.

American Gypsy:. Stranger in Everybody's Land. 1999. 80 minutes, color, English narration with some spoken Romani. film produced and directed by Jasmine Dellal. For more information contact Little Dust Productions, 878 Grove St., San Francisco, CA 94117; http://americangypsy.com/.

Dispersal Tendencies of Neonate Larvae ofLymantria mathuraand the Asian Form ofLymantria dispar(Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae)

Recently, Asian gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), infestations have been found in Oregon, Washington, and British Colombia. In at least 1 case, circumstantial evidence suggests that the introduction occurred through airborne dispersal of neonates from grain ships that had been infested in the Far Eastern ports of Russia. Egg masses of Asian gypsy moth and another lymantriid, Lymantria mathura Moore, have been intercepted on the same ships. Both species are polyphagous defoliators of trees and could easily achieve pest status if established in North America. Neonate larvae of both species are capable of airborne dispersal, although there is no information on dispersal rates, or, for L. mathura, on settling velocities. We studied dispersal rates, settling velocities and diel periodicity of dispersal for both lymantriids, so this information could be incorporated into models that predict probable extent of neonate dispersal. Dispersal rates for L. mathura exceed those of Asian and North American gypsy moths. Neonates of L. mathura weigh less and have a slower settling velocity than Asian or North American gypsy moths, which allows them to be dispersed by wind for greater distances.

Microsatellite DNA Variation among Asian and North American Gypsy Moths (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae)

Four microsatellite DNA loci were used to assay allelic variation in 4 gypsy moth populations (Japan, Russian far east, China, and North America). These loci were highly polymorphic, with up to 17 alleles per locus and heterozygosity values in the 3 Asian populations typically > 0.6. Consistent with earlier studies employing DNA markers, variation in the North American population was lower than in Asia, presumably because of the recent population bottleneck associated with the release of European moths in North America. An assignment test was developed to estimate the likelihood that a multilocus genotype is derived from the population from which it was sampled. Moths from North America and Japan assign to their respective populations with high likelihood, but some moths from Russia and China do not. This is consistent with our knowledge of the recent evolutionary history of these populations, and means that investigators must be alert to the potential of false negatives (true Asian moths that appear North American at multiple loci) in the assignment of suspect moths captured in North America.

Identification of Three Randomly Amplified Polymorphic Dna-Polymerase Chain Reaction Markers for Distinguishing Asian and North American Gypsy Moths (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae)

Gypsy moths originating in Asia have recently been introduced into North America, making it necessary to develop markers for distinguishing the Asian strain from the established North American population. We have identified 3 randomly amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction generated (RAPD-PCR) markers which are specific for either Asian or North American moths. The FS-2 and FS-3 markers are specific for the North American strain, and the FS-4 marker is specific for moths from far east Asia. The 3 RAPD-amplified fragments have been cloned and sequenced, and locus-specific primers have been developed for the FS-3 marker. These markers, in combination with other markers already available, will be useful for increasing the accuracy of identification of suspect moth specimens.

Effects of maternal nutrition and egg provisioning on parameters of larval hatch, survival and dispersal in the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar L.

North American gypsy moths disperse as newly hatched larvae on wind currents in a behavior called ballooning. Because ballooning occurs before neonates begin to feed, resources used in dispersal are limited to those carried over from the egg. We show that nutritional experience of the maternal parent can influence the tendency of offspring to disperse, and that resource provisioning of eggs by the maternal parent affects the duration of the window for disperal. Offspring of females from defoliated sites had a lower tendency to balloon in a wind tunnel than larvae from females which had not experienced nutritional stress associated with host defoliation. The number of eggs in an egg mass, a reflection of the maternal parent's nutritional experience, also contributed to the predictive model for dispersal that included defoliation level. Egg weight and the levels of two yolk proteins, vitellin (Vt) and glycine-rich protein (GRP), however, had no influence of the proportion of ballooning larvae. The length of survival without food, and thus the maximum period of time for dispersal, was correlated with levels of Vt and GRP, but not with egg weight. The level of defoliation at the site from which the maternal parent was collected was not related to the longevity of offspring, nor did it have a significant effect on the levels of Vt, GRP or egg weight. Levels of hemolymph proteins arylphorin and vitellogenin in the maternal parent during the prepupal stage had no influence on levels of yolk proteins, larval longevity, or tendency to balloon.