The project is titled “An integrative approach to determining fall armyworm population genomics and dispersal.”
Answering unknowns about fall armyworms
The research sprung from studies by Texas A&M University graduate student Ashley Tessnow, who will work on the new project as a postdoctoral researcher. Her doctoral research tracked the genetics of fall armyworm populations as they moved south to north through Texas into a location in Minnesota.
Tessnow studied two distinct strains of fall armyworms as they migrated northward annually during their preferred crops’ growing seasons. These strains of fall armyworms are the same species and morphologically identical, but they prefer different crops. The new research will look at the C-strain, named for its prevalence in corn fields, and the R-strain, named for its identification in rice fields but also known for consuming small grasses like Bermuda.