Mating disruption of the gypsy moth, when used appropriately, effectively manages insect pest at different infestation levels. It can also be used alone or as a complement to other management methods like the use of conventional pesticides. Specifically, management of pests using mating disruption involves the use of synthetically created, chemically identical semiochemicals, in this case the species sex pheromone, that disrupt the mating behavior of the pest (most of the targeted pests belong to Lepidoptera and Coleoptera). Gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar, virgin females emit sex pheromones that attracts male gypsy moth, and mating ensues. By applying a large number of point sources that continuously emit naturally identical gypsy moth sex pheromone, or disparlure, male moths end up spending most of their time 'manipulating' these point sources, and thus have a significantly difficult time locating female moths, wasting time and effort following 'false' pheromone trails. This effectively reduces the number of mating encounters between adult moths. Mating disruption has been successfully and safely used to manage gypsy moth in a number of eastern US states stretching from Wisconsin to North Carolina under the federal Slow the Spread (STS) program. Because mating disruption uses an insect's nature identical sex pheromone to disrupt their mating, mating disruption products are species-specific and do not impact other organisms and beneficial insects such as natural predators and pollinators. Hence they can be used as an alternative or complement to other control solutions, such as for the purpose of minimizing the negative effects of wide spectrum insecticides on non-target species and insecticide resistance build-up. Only Two mating disruption products have been approved by the USDA Forest Services for use in the STS program: Hercon Disrupt and ISCA Technologies's SPLAT GM. These mating disruption products are formulated with the gypsy moth sex pheromone, and have been aerially applied to millions of acres since the early 1990s, which has successfully slowed the spread of the gypsy moth from the northeastern United States to the rest of the continent. SPLAT GM is also packaged and sold in handheld dispensers for manual application to smaller areas of 2.5 acres or more, and can be used as an alternative or complement to other gypsy moth control solutions. See also Gypsy moths in New Zealand Invasive species in the United States Environmental issues in the United States Notes References Further reading McManus, M.; Schneeberger, N.; Reardon, R. & Mason, G. (1992): Gypsy