What is the Douglas-fir tussock moth virus?
Wild populations of the Douglas-fir tussock moth have several naturally-occurring diseases that cause mortality to certain life stages of the insect during the course of an outbreak. The agents that cause these diseases are bacteria, fungi, and viruses, among others. Research during the 1960’s to mid-1980’s, mostly by U. S. Forest Service scientists, determined that a nucleopolyhedrosis virus , or NPV for short, (family Baculoviridae; genus Baculovirus Subgroup A), caused considerable mortality of tussock moth larvae during the later stages of tussock moth outbreaks (3rd and 4th year of an outbreak), and was largely responsible for natural collapse of many of the tussock moth outbreaks that occurred in western North America. Scientists at the Pacific Northwest Research Station at Corvallis, Oregon began investigations with the tussock moth NPV during an accelerated research program to bring on line, new technologies to manage tussock moth populations after a Douglas-fir tussock moth ou
