In the Canadian Maritimes, many beekeepers rent honey bee, Apis mellifera Linnaeus (Hymenoptera: Apidae), hives to growers of lowbush blueberry, Vaccinium angustifolium (Ericaceae), for pollination services. Anecdotally, hives have less vigour following pollination, potentially due to higher Nosema spp. (Nosematidae) spore loads, the microsporidian causing nosemosis. We undertook a study to determine whether sending honey bee hives to lowbush blueberry fields for pollination (blueberry hives) results in higher Nosema spp. spore loads relative to hives remaining in apiaries (home hives). Nosema spp. spore loads were quantified using light microscopy. Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae were differentiated using polymerase chain reaction and sequencing. Nosema spp. spore loads were greatest in April and May and declined to low levels from June to September. Ninety-eight per cent of Nosema detections were positive for N. ceranae. In April, blueberry hives had a lower spore load than home hives did; however, in June, spore loads were significantly higher in blueberry hives. No other differences in Nosema spp. spore loads were observed between hive types. We conclude that Nosema ceranae is the dominant Nosema species in the Canadian Maritimes and that using hives for lowbush blueberry pollination does not appear to influence long-term Nosema spp. spore loads.

During the past 100 years, insect control has been a predominant objective and influence on the development of entomology in Canada. Preoccupation with the insecticide method of insect control threatened for a while to divert entomologists from the biological bases of their science. But the scientific questions and practical problems raised by insecticides have recently generated a renaissance of biological thinking about insects and ways to control them. Older biological methods and certain promising new ones are receiving increased attention. Insecticides have won a permanent place in our arsenal but we can no longer continue to rely so heavily on this one weapon. A new perspective is emerging in which strategies of insect control will be formulated on the basis of population dynamics studies and will involve assembling from a variety of control methods the appropriate combinations to meet particular problems. The requirements of these combined strategies will impinge increasingly on economic and social affairs which, in turn, will modify the technology of insect control.

The dynamics of interactions amongst natural enemies are central to the investigation of insect pest ecology. Ternary and quaternary interactions between parasitoids and predators in the presence of entomophagous organisms are yet to be comprehensively explored. We investigated the performance of a clone of green peach aphid (Myzus persicae (Sulzer); Hemiptera: Aphididae), raised on savoy cabbage (Brassica oleracea Linnaeus; Brassicaceae), under all possible combinations of: I) the parasitoid Aphidius colemani Viereck (Hymenoptera: Braconidae); II) the predator Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae); III) the predator Adalia bipunctata (Linnaeus) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae); and IV) the spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum (Koch) (Araneae: Theridiidae). We demonstrate a considerably differential green peach aphid abundance, polyphenism, and fine-scale spatial distribution in response to the combination, number, and identity of the present enemy species and their interactions. Surprisingly, certain combinations led to thriving green peach aphid populations due to interference between enemies; whereas, other combinations resulted in tangible collective suppression of the population. At the frontier of agroecology and entomology, we provide fresh insights on the effects of conflict and synergy between natural enemies sharing a pest of a cash crop as prey, highlighting the consequences of the presence of a novel synanthropic spider, as a top predator, on pest regulation.

Twenty-one species of Coccinellidae were trapped in flight between 0.8 and 14.3 m from 1992 to 1995 in New Brunswick, Canada. Catches were larger at 0.8 m, with a rapidly decreasing capture rate leading, on average, to more than 50% of the catches at or below 3.8 m every year. The capture rate at 14.3 m was lower than at any of the nine other levels. Hippodamia convergeas Guérin-Méneville flights were distributed close to the ground, with more than 50% of catches at 0.8 m, whereas Mulsantina hudsonica Casey flights were similar at all levels. The strong decreasing gradient of flight as a function of height for Coccinellidae (−0.825) was strongly influenced by that of H. convergens (−1.809) and of Coccinella septempunctata L. (−0.921) and Coccinella trifasciata perplexa Mulsant (−0.715). All other species had a slope of less than −0.5. The temporal distribution of flights was species specific, with maximum activity before the end of June for most, but this was not reflected in the frequency of catches for the entire family, which did not differ throughout the season, although they tended to be lower after mid-August. The weekly vertical flight distribution differed from the average distribution pattern only occasionally, probably during periods of long-distance dispersal. These profiles and known catches from a single trap location can be used to estimate dispersal activity at different heights.

Outbreaks of insect pests periodically cause large losses of volume in Canada’s forests. Compounded with climate change, outbreaks create significant challenges for managing the sustainable delivery of ecosystem services. Current methods to monitor damage by these pests involve both field and aerial surveys. While relatively cost effective and timely, aerial survey consistency and spatial coverage may be insufficient for detailed monitoring across Canada’s vast forest-land base. Remote sensing can augment these methods and extend monitoring capabilities in time and space by incorporating knowledge of pest-host interactions and of how damage translates into a remote sensing signal for detection and mapping. This review provides a brief introduction to major forest insect pests in Canada (two bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and six defoliators) and the damage they cause, a synthesis of the literature involving aerial survey and remote sensing, and a discussion of how these two approaches could be integrated into future pest monitoring from a Canadian perspective. We offer some lessons learned, outline roles that remote sensing could serve in a management context, and discuss what ongoing and upcoming technological advances may offer to future forest health monitoring.

I have been assigned a subject that gives considerable latitude for interpretation. I propose to survey the broad outlines of biogeography from several different aspects. First I will discuss the scope of biogeography, in its two dimensions–almost necessarily seen as perspectives–looking outward into the world and looking backward into time. This will lead into a review of some of the principles and processes that underlie biogeographic phenomena. The two dimensions must again be considered, and we will mention both the reasons for present distributions and the not always identical reasons for distributions in the past. Then we will broaden the horizon to consider the relationship between biogeography and certain other branches of science. Finally I will try to look a little way forward and to hint at the biogeography of the future and what biogeography may be expected to tell us about the future. This is a large program for a short essay, and the treatment of individual topics must necessarily be brief and simplified.

The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is a significant destructive force in the pine forests of western Canada and has the capacity to spread east into a novel host tree species, jack pine (Pinaceae). New populations have been documented in central Alberta, Canada, but the source populations for these outbreaks have yet to be identified. In this study, we use genetic data to identify parent populations for recent outbreak sites near Slave Lake, Lac La Biche, and Hinton, Alberta. We found the northern population cluster that entered Alberta near Grande Prairie was the source of the most eastern established population near Lac La Biche, and the range expansion to this leading-edge population has been too rapid to establish evidence of population structure. However, some dispersal from a population in the Jasper and Hinton area has been detected as far north and east as Slave Lake, Alberta. We also identified two potential source populations for the current outbreak in Hinton: most beetles appear to be from Jasper National Park, Alberta, but some also originated from the northern population cluster. These findings demonstrate the dynamic dispersal capabilities of mountain pine beetle across the Alberta landscape and the potential hazard of increased dispersal to newly established leading-edge populations.

Ground beetles common in temperate agroecosystems are predators of crop pests, including slugs (Gastropoda: Pulmonata). Salad green production in greenhouses during autumn and spring can be limited by damage due to slugs and other pests. Introducing ground beetles to greenhouses may help reduce damage and improve yields. In the laboratory, while arenas with only slugs produced nearly no harvestable leaves, the presence of Carabus nemoralis Müller (Coleoptera: Carabidae) increased the number and weight of harvestable leaves to 55% of the amount in control arenas (without slugs or beetles), in addition to reducing the number of slugs. In a second experiment, adult or second-instar Pterostichus melanarius (Illiger) (Coleoptera: Carabidae) were released into greenhouse mesocosms (75 cm diameter steel rings) containing salad greens and slugs. Neither adults nor larvae improved the number or weight of harvestable leaves at the first two harvests, and there was no evidence of slug consumption. Towards the end of the experiment cutworms were common in the mesocosms and contributed to damaging salad greens. Adult P. melanarius likely consumed some cutworms, resulting in small increases in salad green yields at the third harvest. Our results suggest that ground beetles should be further examined as part of an integrated approach to pest control in late and early season salad green production in greenhouses.

Intraguild predation is a notable factor to proper application of biocontrol agents to reduce pest populations. Intraguild predation was studied between Typhlodromus bagdasarjani Wainstein and Arutunjan (Acari: Phytoseiidae) and Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot (Acari: Phytoseiidae) in presence and absence of Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae) as well as pollen. Intraguild predation between two predators was bidirectional. The highest and the lowest predation rates of both predators in absence and presence of T. urticae as well as in the pollen treatments were on heterospecific eggs and deutonymphs, respectively. Typhlodromus bagdasarjani consumed more heterospecific eggs compared with P. persimilis. When pollen was added, predation of T. bagdasarjani significantly reduced on heterospecific eggs and deutonymphs in absence and presence of T. urticae treatments, respectively. However, predation rate of P. persimilis on heterospecific stages was not significantly affected by pollen addition. Oviposition of both predators was higher in presence of T. urticae than in its absence and oviposition of P. persimilis was significantly higher on heterospecific stages than T. bagdasarjani. Pollen addition had a significant effect on increasing the oviposition rate of T. bagdasarjani. Extraguild prey presence had a nonsignificant effect on the consumption rate of intraguild prey by the intraguild predators. However, presence of extraguild prey led to a significant increase in oviposition rate of both predators.

In Canada, viticulture has been practiced since the arrival of European settlers. After a period of low activity due to the prohibition in North America, viticulture enjoyed a renaissance in the 1970s such that it became a rapidly growing industry in Canada. It is currently practiced mainly in five provinces, i.e., British Columbia, Ontario, Québec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. In Eastern Canada, several species of wild vines (Vitis Linnaeus; Vitaceae) grew naturally before cultivation of domesticated cultivars and these had their entomofauna. In contrast, no wild vines grew in British Columbia. As a consequence, the insect fauna varies according to the provinces and the regions and the agroclimatic conditions. Here we review the literature relevant to viticultural entomology in Canada and discuss the main grape insects. It is noteworthy that certain insect pests of grapes were the subject of the first issues of The Canadian Entomologist. Selected milestones are provided to document the evolution of research in grape entomology in the context of dynamic evolving viticultural and oenological industries. In recent years, the arrival of several invasive species challenged the sustainability of integrated pest management programmes.

In this overview we compare the significance and evolutionary history of two interacting biological systems, the conifer-feeding bark beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) and their host conifers (Gymnospermae: Coniferales and Taxales). Isoprenoid natural products play key roles in the aggregation of the bark beetles and in the defence of the conifers. Our approach is to couple the most recent advances in the biochemical and molecular literature on these systems with ecological and behavioral data to compare monoterpenoid pheromone biosynthesis in scolytids with monoterpene biosynthesis in conifers. This synthesis reveals and evaluates the evolutionary redundancy occurring in the biochemical systems of the insect and host. Although host monoterpenes may be utilized directly or as derivatives in aggregation by scolytids, oxygenated monoterpenes that are behaviorally active for scolytids have been rarely identified from their coniferous hosts. De novo monoterpenoid biosynthesis in the Scolytidae, a process that is likely to be rare among metazoans, is substantially different from monoterpene biosynthesis in the conifers. The pathways appear to be shared only at the late-stage reactions that follow the formation of isopentenyl diphosphate. Little is known of the regulation of monoterpene biosynthesis in conifers, but scolytids positively regulate monoterpenoid biosynthesis using a sesquiterpenoid hormone, juvenile hormone, which does not occur in conifers. Little is known of the subcellular site of synthesis of monoterpenoids in scolytids, but conifer monoterpene biosynthesis is compartmentalized in the plastids, which do not occur in scolytid cells. In addition to bark beetles and conifers, the vertebrate model presents one of the few systems in which isoprenoid synthesis has been studied enough to provide a meaningful comparison. Possible unique features of monoterpenoid pheromone biosynthesis in scolytids relative to isoprenoid biosynthesis in vertebrates include the following: (1) a monoterpenoid end product; (2) a hypothetically scolytid-specific prenyl transferase (= geranyl diphosphate synthase) that catalyzes the condensation of two five-carbon (C5) units, but does not catalyze additional condensation reactions with the C5 monomelic unit; (3) a scolytid-specific monoterpene (myrcene) synthase; and (4) a scolytid-specific, transcriptional-level sesquiterpenoid isoprenoid regulatory mechanism. Features 2 and 3 may be shared with conifers. This review also updates the 1985 landmark scientific paper by John Borden by listing the references and species of coniferophagous Scolytidae for which aggregation pheromones have been identified since 1985.

The predictions of three published models of temperature-dependent egg hatch of the European strain of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar L., were compared with observed hatch rates of caged egg masses in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Two of the three models gave a good fit to observations. Both of these models considered explicitly the period between oviposition in the summer of one year and hatch of neonates the following spring. When combined with models for temperature-dependent development of larvae and pupae, and adult longevity, the seasonal life history of an entire generation of gypsy moth could be simulated. These composite models predict the seasonal occurrence of all life stages of the insect. The simulated flight period of adult male gypsy moth on Vancouver Island in 1998 compared favourably with observed captures in pheromone traps. A series of gypsy moth generations was simulated using daily temperature inputs reconstructed from climatic normals (period 1961–1990) at various locations on the south coast and southern interior of British Columbia where gypsy moth has been frequently introduced but is not established. These simulations provided estimates of the probability of a persistent population resulting from a predicted stable seasonality of the gypsy moth. The highest probabilities of persistence were in coastal areas along the Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and the continental mainland and in southern interior valleys below approximately 500-m elevation (above sea level). Outside these regions, normal climatic profiles resulted in an unstable seasonality for gypsy moth with increasingly late oviposition dates, and subsequent problems in synchronizing initiation and completion of winter diapause with appropriate ambient conditions. The phenology models discussed here can be and were used as decision-support tools either to improve the efficiency of pest management operations (sampling, pesticide applications) or to make better decisions concerning the need for eradication of the gypsy moth in novel environments.