Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T19:01:50.387Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Spruce Budworm Parasite Investigations in the Lower St. Lawrence and Gaspé Regions of Quebec1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

J. R. Blais
Affiliation:
Forest Biology Laboratory, Quebec

Extract

A spruce budworm outbreak started in Quebec and adjoining parts of New Brunswick in 1949 and spread each year until by 1955 most balsam fir stands within an area of 32,000 square miles were attacked. Approximately 45 per cent of this area was in the Lower St. Lawrence and Gaspe regions of Quebec. In Quebec, important population reductions took place in various sectors of the outbreak area as a result of unfavourable weather conditions in 1956 and 1957 (Blais, 1958a, 1958b), and the final collapse occurred in 1958 when populations returned to the endemic level throughout the area (Blais and Martineau, 1958). In New Brunswick, a relatively small outbreak area remained at the end of the summer in 1958 (Webb et al., 1959). The large-scale aerial applications of DDT begun in New Brunswick in 1952, and in Quebec in 1954, were continued until 1958. Biological studies in connection with the spraying were carried out in both provinces. In Quebec these studies consisted of assessing spruce budworm population fluctuations in both sprayed and unsprayed areas and in determining, where possible, the causes for these fluctuations. All factors associated with changes in population could not be adequately measured over such a large territory, but a real attempt was made to obtain information on parasitism. The present paper deals with this aspect of the studies.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1960

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bess, H. A. 1945. A measure of the influence of natural mortality factors of insect survival. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Amer. 38: 472481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biais, J. R. 1958a. Effects of 1956 spring and summer temperatures on spruce budworm populations in the Gaspe Peninsula. Can. Ent. 90: 354361.Google Scholar
Biais, J. R. 1958b. Status of the spruce budworm in Lower St. Lawrence and Gaspe, and results of spraying operations — 1957. Can. Dept. Agr., For. Biol. Div. Bi-Mon. Progr. Rept. 14 (1).Google Scholar
Biais, J. R., and Martineau, R.. 1958. Status of the spruce budworm in the Lower St. Lawrence and Gaspé Peninsula at the end of 1958 with special reference to spraying operations. Can. Dept. Agr., For. Biol. Div. Bi-Mon. Progr. Rept. 14 (6).Google Scholar
Brown, N. R. 1946a. Studies on parasites of the spruce budworm, Archips fumiferana (Clem.). I. Life history of Apanteles fumiferanae Viereck (Hymenoptera, Braconidae). Can. Ent. 78: 121129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, N. R. 1946b. Studies on parasites of the spruce budworm, Archips fumiferana (Clem.). II. Life history of Glypta fumiferanae Viereck. (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae). Can. Ent. 78: 138147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daviault, L. 1950. Les parasites de la tordeuse des bourgeons de l'épinette (Choristoneura fumiferana Clem.) dans la province de Québec. In Rept. Que. Soc. Prot. Plants, 1948–49: 4147.Google Scholar
Dowden, P. B., Carolin, V. M., and Dirks, C. O.. 1950. Natural control factors affecting the spruce budworm in the Adirondacks during 1946–48. J. Econ. Ent. 43: 774783.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard, L. O., and Fiske, W. F.. 1911. The importation into the United States of parasites of the gipsy moth and brown tail moth. U.S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Entomol. Bul. 91, 344 p.Google Scholar
Jaynes, H. A., and Drooz, A. T.. 1952. The importance of parasites in the spruce budworm infestations in New York and Maine, J. Econ. Ent. 45: 10571061.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macdonald, D. R. 1959. Biological assessment of aerial forest spraying against spruce budworm in New Brunswick. III. Effects on two overwintering parasites. Can. Ent. 91: 330336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGugan, B. M. 1955. Certain host-parasite relationships involving the spruce budworm. Can. Ent. 87: 178187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGugan, B. M., and Blais, J. R.. 1959. Spruce budworm parasite studies in northwestern Ontario. Can. Ent. 91: 758783.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, F. E., Macdonald, D. R., Cameron, C. G.. 1959. Aerial spraying against spruce budworm in New Brunswick — 1958. Can. Dept. Agr. For. Biol. Div. Bi-Mon Progr. Rept. 15 (1).Google Scholar