Dr. Gard Otis, professor emeritus of insect ecology, spoke to the Waterloo Region Record about gypsy moth caterpillars, which have started to hatch in southwestern Ontario.

While the caterpillars are notorious for defoliating trees, Otis said defoliation would only kill a tree if the tree were unhealthy and that for the most part, the forest will bounce back.

Retiring after 36 years as a professor in the School of Environmental Sciences, Otis also served as an adjunct professor specializing in bee behaviour and forest entomology.