South Dakota researchers look to pests for solving cellulosic ethanol

In South Dakota, researchers at South Dakota State University are researching a pest discovered in 1906, forgotten, and renamed the switchgrass moth in 2004 for insights into how best to produce cellulosic ethanol. They are also looking at a species of midge more damaging to the crop as well as other insects that are natural pests for these grasses to best understand how to break down the cell walls.