Tent caterpillars, Malacosoma americanum,are in abundance these days, their silk nests festooning our black cherry trees. Poor old Prunus serotina has a hard enough time of it, with the chronic black knot infections that occur on just about all trees. This year the tent cats seem to be in considerably larger numbers than in previous springs, large enough for me to notice, at least. There’s a steady rain of them as individuals slip their moorings and fall to the ground. This particular one found its way onto an endless racetrack, and as I sat on the stoop reading the other day made the circuit dozens of times. The next morning there were two of them, going round and round. Occasionally it would stop and rear up, or out, but it wouldn’t take a downward course. Amusement. My take is echoed by UGA Extension Service entomologist Dan Horton, who points out that the boom and bust cycle of tent cats, like many insects, is the norm, with “bust” being key. The numbers may be higher this year but the trees do regrow their leaves and in a few weeks these native caterpillars will be gone. In the meantime I presume they serve as a food source for something.

That’s also the feeling of this blogger, but I don’t think I’d go so far as to include purple loosestrife under the same big tent. It’s reasonable to view as normal an abundance of tent caterpillars and their role as a food source in their native environment. But there is a distinction between that, and invasives like purple loosestrife and Microstegium. The latter at least doesn’t seem to serve as a food source for much of anything. It consequently has a competitive advantage over a richer diversity of natives, replacing complexity with simplicity, a multicourse meal with the equivalent of a stick of celery, if that.

Somewhat related, I’ve noticed with a mild unease a new turn of phrase among some students. They preface answers to strictly factual questions with “I feel that...” "What is the only artery to carry deoxygenated blood?" “I feel that it is the pulmonary artery.” This is startling. It replaces “I think that...” with a preemptively defensive alternative, for who isn’t involuntarily inhibited just a little bit from arguing with someone’s feelings? Maybe it’s just a local outbreak of youthful newageiness, hopefully headed for its own boom and bust.