John C. Moser A. D. Hopkins Address Southern Forest Insect Work Conference Memphis, TN July 31,200O Today, I'm Going to Discus
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Events Leading to One Person’s Career in Forest Entomology bY John C. Moser A. D. Hopkins Address Southern Forest Insect Work Conference Memphis, TN July 31,200O Today, I’m going to discuss the subject that I exciting to me because it meant that I, a lowly know most about --the important EVENTS sophomore student, had observed something and the many MENTORS leading to my that no one else in the world had ever seen. career in Forest Entomology at the Southern This pivotal event launched my career as a Research Station, as well as my past and research entomologist. present COOPERATORS. This includes my VIEWS on the present state of SPB My summers of 1949 and 1950 were devoted Research, as well as my F’UTURE PLANS to driving and assisting Prof. C. H. Kennedy for the next 40 years. on his collecting trips to Upper Michigan and the north coast of Lake Superior in Canada, 1947. My record in high school was not where we “chased ants” (Kennedy’s term). spectacular, and I had no desire to attend I was far from the first choice for this job, but college. But all the GI’s came back in 1947, I was selected because Prof. Kennedy was sucking up all the jobs. So I entered the Ohio quite neurotic, and all the graduate students State University, which was just 3 miles up were afraid to work for him. Whereas he was the road from my home. difficult to work for, he was a great teacher, and here I learned the basics of ant behavior 1948. My first course in entomology. I liked and systematics that were to play a major role the subject, but just as important, I saw job in my future job selection in the Forest potential. Here, too, I had the opportunity to Service. Kennedy also said, “If you ever get interact with several OSU professors that a chance to work on Atta, take it; because this began shaping my career -- Donald Borror, is where the real opportunities lie in Ralph Davidson (my undergraduate advisor), myrmecology research .” Dwight Delong. I also began my life-long friendship with Charles Triplehom, another In 195 1, much to the surprise of myself and undergraduate student, who was one year everyone else, I received my BS in ahead of me. Entomology from OSU. 1951 was the apex of the Korean War, and I was facing the draft. At the same time, I discovered that there was a However, I was informed that my BS in hackberry tree in the front yard of my home, entomology was worth a commission, the the leaves of which were covered with lots of drawback being that I must enlist for a different kinds of interesting galls. I minimum of 4 years, and that I would be sent discussed this with Prof. Davidson, who to Korea to participate in a pest control unit. encouraged me to observe and take notes The alternative was to be drafted, serve only 2 regarding the different species. I was years, undergo 16 weeks of basic, but then be particularly intrigued by a tiny, metallic green sent to work as a tech at a DOD research wasp was that was flitting around and facility, and forever remain as a private. I inserting its ovipositor into certain of the chose the latter. psyllid galls. I collected some of these wasps, and sent them to Mr. Gahan at the USDA After basic, I was assigned to the Army Systematic Entomology Laboratory at Chemical Center near Baltimore MD, where I Beltsville, MD, who identified the wasp as a served as a tech at the Army Medical Corps, new species of Torymus. This was really Insect Physiology Laboratory. Here I was 10 associated with several other of my early Museum and Science Service. Of my 100 mentors, namely Leigh Chadwick, Detrich publications, this is my longest, at 95 pages. Bodenstein and Bertram Sacktor, three of the more important insect biochemists at that Several months before receiving my PhD in time. I was assigned to Dr. Sacktor, who was 1958, the Southern Forest Experiment Station kind enough to include me as a junior author sent Jack Coyne to Cornell to earn his MS. on one of his papers published in the 1953 Today, Jack is known by his pioneering work Biological Bulletin entitled of saving and planting scions of loblolly “Dephosphorylation of ATP by tissues of pines that had survived SPB attack. Jack the American cockroach” - my first informed me that a GS-4 position in BiIl publication! Mann’s Timber Management Project at Alexandria LA was opening for a person to While at the Army Chemical Center, Dr. solve pine regeneration problems caused by Chadwick permitted me to attend my first the town ant, Atta texana. But I also had an ESA meeting held in Philadelphia. But more offer of a GS-9 (then the going rate for a important was the 3-day pass that I received PhD) from the Northeastern Station to study each month. Normally I would visit New predators and parasitoids of the Gypsy Moth. York City and Washington DC on alternate Prof. Kennedy’s words rang in my ears, and months. In DC, I spent a number of days I took the GS-4 position. I arrived in with Barney Burks, the curator of chalcidoid Alexandria on July 1,1958, and was the first wasps at the Systematic Entomology PhD entomologist for the Southern Station. Laboratory. B amey helped me to diagnose and describe my new species of Torymus, in My instructions were to “eradicate” the ant, a addition to several other new species of project to last only two years at the most. parasitoids that I had found associated with This was my first experience with the Forest hackberry galls in Columbus, Ohio. In Service, “short-term,” “practical research” addition, he strongly encouraged me to apply syndrome. The project leader expected me to to Cornell University as a PhD candidate. perfect methods of killing colonies with methyl bromide, but I somehow convinced In September 1953, I was released from the him that real control could not be Army, and received the G.I. Bill, which accomplished without knowing something financed the remainder of my graduate about the biology of the ant. education. I then returned to my home in Columbus, and returned to OSU, where in In September 1958, I gave a seminar on the 1954 I completed my Master’s, majoring in town ant at the Louisiana Entomological biological control under Alvah Peterson. My Society, held at LSU. Here I met Murray MS thesis on hackberry galls and description Blum, and in the next several years we of the parasitoid, Torymus vesiculus was coauthored a paper in Science on the chemical summarized in the 1956 J. Kans. Ent. Sot. ecology of town ant trail pheromones, as well 29~57-62. as others on the mating flight. Science also accepted another paper by me dealing with the In September 1954, I entered Cornell tiny roach inquiline, Attaphilajbngicola, University, majoring in Insect Ecology under which followed the ant trail pheromone. Howard Evans, who taught courses in the Since this compound was favorable to the taxonomy of Hymenoptera and the minor receiver and not the emitter, I missed a golden orders. In addition, I shared an apartment opportunity to coin the word “allomone”, a with Jack Franclemont, who taught mistake that I vowed not to repeat again. Lepidoptera systematics. These two mentors shaped my present views on the meaning and Ed Wilson was interested in the chemical values of systematic studies to the study of ecology and other studies that Blum and I insect interrelationships. At Cornell, I were doing, and he visited Alexandria twice continued my thesis on the natural enemies of during the 4 years that I spent with the hackberry gallmakers, which was published in Timber Management Project. Murray and Ed 1965 as Bulletin 402 of the N.Y. State always entered the back door of the building 11 so that they would not have to pay verbal that this research should continue, which they tribute to the project leader. reluctantly agreed to do. My job was to collect eight pounds of ants, which Milt and In 1962, the insect project was established at Jim Tumlinson (his postdoc) ground up and Alexandria under Bill Bennett, giving me the extracted 150 ,crg of pure trail substance. This opportunity to transfer to a project much and about 100 other allied compounds more to my liking. The AD, Les On, knew extracted from the ant poison sac were sent to that I had a penchant for working with “small me. My job was then to prepare artificial stuff’, and asked me if I wanted to work on trails from these compounds and let the ant the mites associated with bark beetles - an workers tell me which was the active opportunity that I jumped at. Les had a substance, which turned out to be a pyrrole reason for asking me to do this. Les’ interest that we called “At&lure.” Unlike most in mites dated back to 1934, when Leach, On, pheromones, which are highly volatile, this and Christensen published a paper compound was a solid of low volatility. But establishing that mites riding on Ips pini fed this makes sense, because the ant has a on and disseminated the blue stain fungus in persistent food source, thus requiring Norway pine. Les wanted to know the persistent trails, which in turn would require a identities of these mites and if the same thing persistent pheromone of low volatility.