Christmas trees from Nova Scotia, Canada are banned from import into the European Union (EU) because they may be infected with the pinewood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner and Buhrer) Nickle (Nematoda: Parasitaphelenchidae). Monochamus Dejean (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) species known to vector pinewood nematode are present in Nova Scotia but their abundance in Christmas tree plantations and surrounding stands has not been assessed. We conducted trapping surveys and experiments in 2014 and 2015 to determine the species of Monochamus and their relative abundance in Nova Scotia Christmas tree plantations and the surrounding forests. We also compared commercially available traps and lures from Europe (cross-vane traps, Galloprotect lure=monochamol+ipsenol+α-pinene+2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol) and North America (intercept panel traps, North American lure=monochamol+ipsenol+α-pinene+ethanol) for their efficacy at catching Monochamus species in a 2×2 factorial experiment. We captured three Monochamus species (M. scutellatus (Say), M. notatus (Drury), and M. marmorator Kirby) in Nova Scotia Christmas tree plantations. Mean trap catches were greater within the plantations than in the surrounding forests. North American panel traps coated with Fluon® and baited with the European lure caught the most M. notatus and M. scutellatus and would be most suitable for survey and monitoring.

The grasshopper, Camnula pellucida Scudder (Orthoptera: Acridae), is a severe pest of small grains and rangeland forage in North America. In a field experiment using cages containing C. pellucida in northwestern Montana, United States of America, we manipulated exposure to the fungal entomopathogen, Entomophaga grylli Fresenius (Entomophthorales: Entomophthoraceae) pathotype 1, temperature using small greenhouses, and moisture for the pathogen with water pillows. Treatment effects on fungal infection (mycosis) rates and grasshopper survivorship were assessed. Water pillows provided additional moist habitat for E. grylli without having an impact on grasshopper performance or the plant biomass and nitrogen content. Number of fungal spores, pathogen-induced mortality rates, and treatment effects on grass biomass and nitrogen content were also measured. Water pillows benefited the pathogen by increasing fungal spore levels by eightfold, which in turn shortened pathogen-exposed grasshopper survival time by half. In contrast, warming reduced fungal spore levels by 50% and subsequently reduced mortality from E. grylli by 67%. However, warmed pathogen-exposed grasshoppers did not exhibit enhanced survival, which may be due, in part, to intraspecific competition among the surviving grasshoppers.

The prairie grasslands have been transformed to become the primary source of agricultural production in Canada. Soon after its establishment, the Biological Survey of Canada recognised the urgent need to document the arthropods of the prairie grasslands, especially in the few pristine remnants. Although this initiative has yielded considerable progress in documenting the species present in the Prairies Ecozone, comprehensive ecological studies are sparse. Landscape effects on arthropods are well studied elsewhere, but no equivalent studies have been published for the Canadian Prairies. Crop rotation varies landscape composition annually, changes host plant resources in fields, and interacts with other agricultural inputs to disturb pest and beneficial arthropods. Despite only a handful of studies on grazing, there is an emerging pattern: moderate grazing increases arthropod diversity and benefits certain arthropod guilds. Abiotic inputs elicit variable responses from different arthropod taxa; Carabidae (Coleoptera) are best studied, with some information available for ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and aquatic arthropods. Biotic inputs include arthropods released for biocontrol of weed and insect pests; evidence indicates that biocontrol agents of insects have a greater potential for impact on native communities of arthropods. The studies reviewed here reveal important trends and research gaps to be addressed in the future.

This study assesses the effects of the veterinary medical product ivermectin (IVM) in a range of concentrations on adult reproductive physiology and larval mortality of the dung beetle Euoniticellus intermedius (Reiche) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). The ecotoxicological tests comprised eight treatments, including two controls and six increasing ivermectina concentrations (3.16, 10.0, 31.6, 63.2, 100, and 316 µg IVM/kg fresh dung). After 10 days of exposure, the females were dissected and the brood balls counted (fecundity). The brood balls were opened 15 days later and live larvae were counted to estimate larval mortality. Ivermectin altered the morphology of the ovary and stopped vitellogenesis, causing oocyte resorption and thus decreasing fecundity. The 30% threshold of decline in fecundity was reached at 115.9 µg IVM/kg dung, with no observed effect concentration (NOEC) and lowest observed effect concentration (LOEC) values of 10.0 and 31.6 µg IVM/kg dung, respectively. Larval sensitivity to ivermectin was higher, with a lethal concentration required to kill 50% of the population of 85.9 μg IVM/kg dung, and NOEC and LOEC of 3.16 and 10.0 µg IVM/kg dung, respectively. After cattle were treated with ivermectin at the recommended dose, the ivermectin concentration in their dung during the two first weeks after administration far exceeded the thresholds determined for E. intermedius.

Long-term, twice weekly, trap catches of the native carrot weevil, Listronotus oregonensis (LeConte) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), and the introduced carrot rust fly, Psila rosae (Fabricius) (Diptera: Psilidae), were used to test the hypothesis that native populations fluctuate less from year-to-year than those of introduced species, because the native species has had more time to adapt to temporal variability in its habitat than an introduced species. Variability in annual abundance was estimated for 33 years, and for 11-year or 16–17-year subsets of the 33-year time series. Temporal population variability was quantified as PV, a proportion between 0 and 1. The native carrot weevil had a PV of 0.39, less than that of the introduced carrot rust fly with a PV of 0.67, supporting the hypothesis. Generation 1 for both species showed a decline in PV over three decades consistent with the hypothesis that adaptation to variability in the habitat leads to lower PV. Over 33 years, the carrot weevil developed a second generation with a PV of 0.70, higher than that of the first generation, which is consistent with the hypothesis that adaptation is required to stabilise population dynamics in a new habitat, in this case a new temporally defined habitat.

Integration of pollinator-dependent invasive plants into native pollination networks can have direct and indirect effects on local plant and pollinator communities. Impacts on local plants are well documented; however effects on native pollinators have gained less attention. We examine these issues in habitat fragments of the endangered oak-savannah ecosystem in British Columbia, Canada. We measured pollen collection by native bumble bees (Bombus Latreille; Hymenoptera: Apidae) and the introduced honey bee (Apis mellifera Linnaeus; Hymenoptera: Apidae) foraging on two common native plants in habitat fragments with varying invasive (Cytisus scoparius (Linnaeus) Link; Fabaceae) density. The Bombus species with the largest workers had higher proportions of invasive pollen on their bodies and in their corbiculae than smaller workers. Honey bees rarely collected C. scoparius pollen. While some native bumble bees species collect an increasing proportion of C. scoparius pollen with increasing C. scoparius density, this did not translate into an increased potential for pollination. Rather, measures of effective pollination decline with C. scoparius density. Overall, our results suggest that some bee species may be better at finding resources at highly invaded sites. Apis mellifera is likely not playing a major role in facilitating the spread of C. scoparius in our region. Rather C. scoparius is visited by a complement of native bumble bees that are similar to pollinators in the native range of this plant.

The moth Symmetrischema lavernella (Chambers) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) has two feeding strategies on its host plant Physalis Linnaeus (Solanaceae): a fruitworm that feeds on developing ovules in a fruit and a budworm that consumes a floral bud. The fruitworm strategy occurs when a neonate caterpillar enters the ovary of a flower bud above a size threshold (~4 mm in Physalis heterophylla Nees), consumes the developing ovules, and pupates in the fruit. In P. heterophylla, occupancy of the ovary by S. lavernella causes fruit development to occur in the absence of pollination, indicating that the caterpillar initiates developmental pathways associated with pollination. The budworm strategy occurs in buds below ~4 mm, involves consumption of the ovary and immature anthers, and results in pupation inside the uninflated calyx. The two strategies co-occur on plants, determined by the sizes of the available buds at the time of oviposition. The most prominent natural enemy of S. lavernella using the fruitworm strategy was the frugivorous caterpillar Heliothis subflexa (Guenée) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), also a specialist of Physalis. The larger Heliothis subflexa feeds on the fruit externally, consumes S. lavernella, and caused 31.3% of fruitworm mortality in field surveys. Parasitoids included wasps (Hymenoptera) of the families Braconidae, Ichneumonidae, and Chalcididae.

Specimens of five species of woodpeckers (Piciformes: Picidae) from Manitoba, Canada, were weighed and examined for chewing lice, 1998–2015: downy woodpecker (Picoides pubescens (Linnaeus), n=49), hairy woodpecker (Picoides villosus (Linnaeus), n=23), pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus (Linnaeus), n=10), northern flicker (Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus), n=170), and yellow-bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius (Linnaeus), n=239). The relationship between body mass of each host species and infestation by seven species of lice was analysed: Menacanthus pici (Denny) from all host species, Brueelia straminea (Denny) from Picoides Lacépède species, Penenirmus jungens (Kellogg) from northern flicker, Penenirmus auritus (Scopoli) from the other four hosts, Picicola porisma Dalgleish from northern flicker, Picicola snodgrassi (Kellogg) from Picoides species, and Picicola marginatulus (Harrison) from pileated woodpeckers. Mean abundance of lice increased with the mean mass of their host. Neither the species richness of lice nor the prevalence of lice were related to host body mass. Host body mass explained 98% of the variation in mean intensity of louse infestation among hosts. The positive association of mean intensity and body size was also detected for three genera of lice. Louse intensity also increased with body size for individual birds, more so for some species of lice and hosts than others. Body size matters, but the adaptations that allow higher mean intensity on larger host species remain to be determined.

Variability is an important characteristic of population dynamics, but the length of the time series required to estimate population variability is poorly understood. To this end, population variability of Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas), Myzus persicae (Sulzer), and Aphis nasturtii (Kaltenbach) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) was investigated. Population variability (measured as PV, a proportion between 0 and 1) was estimated for time series of 3–62 years, giving replicate estimates for time series of 3–20 years that were normally distributed. Mean values for PV were more uniform for a time series of 12 years or longer than for shorter ones. The standard deviation of PV declined to a minimum at 12–15 years, as the length of the time series increased. Discrimination of estimates of PV was reliable for 15-year time series and longer, but not necessarily for shorter ones. Although M. euphorbiae had a relatively low PV, the coefficient of variation of that PV (12.5), was higher than for the other two species (3.5, 4.5). For robust estimates of PV, a time series of 15 years is recommended, because it minimises the standard deviation of PV, and discriminates values of PV that differ by 0.06 on a 0–1 scale.

Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea, Apiformes) are taxonomically and ecologically diverse, with a wide range of social complexity, nesting preferences, floral associations, and biogeographic restrictions. A Canadian bee checklist, greatly assisted by the gene-assisted approach of DNA barcoding, is nearing completion. Previous evaluation of bee diversity in Canada, assisted by DNA barcoding, was restricted to Nova Scotia, which contains about 25% of the bee species in the country. Here, we summarise efforts to date to build a comprehensive DNA barcode library supporting bee taxonomic studies in Canada, consisting of more than 12 500 barcode-compliant sequences yielding 811 distinct barcode index numbers (BINs). This appears to represent ~95% of the 856 bee species presently recorded from Canada, but comparison with known morphological species in each genus shows that some genera are still under-sampled or may contain cryptic taxa, with much taxonomic work still to be done on bees in Canada. This is particularly true within the taxonomically difficult genera Andrena Fabricius (Andrenidae), Hylaeus Fabricius (Colletidae), Melissodes Latreille (Apidae), Nomada Scopoli (Apidae), Osmia Panzer (Megachilidae), and Sphecodes Latreille (Halictidae). DNA analysis will likely be a key asset in resolving bee taxonomic issues in Canada in the future, and to date has even assisted studies of well-known bee taxa. Here we present summaries of our results, and discuss the use of DNA barcoding to assist future taxonomic work, faunal lists, and ecological studies.

The aim of this paper is to provide detailed data on the reproduction of the European earwig Forficula auricularia Linnaeus (Dermaptera: Forficulidae) under natural conditions. We also describe its spring field population structure and dynamics in organic apple orchards in southeastern France using artificial and natural shelters. Two nymph cohorts could be distinguished in a laboratory reproduction study. The first brood, following the first egg-laying event in late November, had significantly higher pre-imaginal survival (1.74-fold) than the second brood in early April. The egg phase was the most vulnerable with a higher mortality rate in the first brood than the second. Independent of brood number, nymphal survival increased from second nymphal instars (N2) onwards with values higher than 96%. In orchards, N3 were generally observed in natural and artificial shelters from the end of April to mid-June. N4 was the most abundant life stage sampled and the only stage present at the majority of sampling dates, especially from early May onwards. Beginning in June, the abundance of new adults of a given year gradually increased especially in the artificial shelters. This descriptive study can now be used to develop phenological models aimed at limiting earwig mortality due to horticultural management practices and increasing their predation level in conservative or augmentative approaches.

In biological monitoring, deploying an effective standardised quantitative sampling method, optimised by trap design and sampling effort, is an essential consideration. To exemplify this using dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae) communities, three pitfall trap designs (un-baited (TN), baited at ground level (flat trap, TF), and baited above the trap (hanging trap, TH)), employed with varying levels of sampling effort (number of traps=1, 2, 3 … 10; number of days=1, 2, 3), were evaluated for sampling completeness and efficiency in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Modelling and resampling simulation approaches were used to suggest optimal sampling protocols across environmentally diverse sites. Overall, TF recovered the greatest abundance and species richness of dung beetles, but behavioural guilds showed conflicting trends: endocoprids preferred TH while paracoprids and telocoprids preferred TF. Resampling simulation of trap type and the two components of sampling effort suggested that six TF traps left for three days was most efficient in obtaining a representative sample and allowed differentiation between trap types, allowing the improved efficiency to be recognised. The effect of trap type on non-target specimens, particularly ants, was also investigated. TF and TH caught almost no by-catch, which is ethically desirable.

Severe mortality (93%) of overwintering larvae of emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), was recorded in March 2016 from green ash, Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marshall (Oleaceae), in Syracuse, New York, United States of America. In contrast, larvae collected from the same area in January exhibited <1% mortality. A strong cold front moved across New York from 13 to 15 February 2016 with temperatures plunging to nearly −40 °C in some areas. In many regions of New York where A. planipennis is established, temperatures dropped well below the reported supercooling point of overwintering larvae. To evaluate whether the extreme cold was linked to extensive mortality of larvae, trees were sampled from four areas that experienced a gradient of minimum temperatures on 14 February 2016. Overwintering mortality varied from ⩽5% to 93% among regions, with lowest survival in the coldest regions. When excised from their galleries, dead larvae were discoloured with brown spots or had black necrotic tissue in the spiracles or foregut. This is the first report of extensive cold-related mortality for this species in North America and highlights the stochastic nature of climatic extremes on invasive species populations.

Broad-scale aquatic insect ecological studies are an important potential source of biodiversity information, though taxa lists may contain outdated names or be incompletely or incorrectly identified. We re-examined over 12 000 archived Ephemeroptera (mayfly) specimens from a large environmental assessment project (Mackenzie Valley pipeline study) in Yukon and the Northwest Territories, Canada (1971–1973) and compared the results to data from five recent (post-2000) collecting expeditions. Our goals were to update the species list for Ephemeroptera for Yukon and the Northwest Territories, and to evaluate the benefits of retaining and re-examining ecological samples to improve regional biodiversity information, particularly in isolated or inaccessible areas. The original pipeline study specimen labels reported 17 species in 25 genera for the combined Yukon and Northwest Territories samples, of which six species and 15 genera are still valid. Re-examination of specimens resulted in 45 species in 29 genera, with 14 and seven newly recorded species for Northwest Territories and Yukon, respectively. The recent collecting resulted in 50 species, 29 of which were different from the pipeline study, and five of which were new territorial records (Northwest Territories: four species; Yukon: one species). Re-examination of archived ecological specimens provides a cost-effective way to update regional biodiversity information.

The bamboo mosquito, Tripteroides bambusa (Yamada) (Diptera: Culicidae), is a mosquito species ubiquitous across forested landscapes in Japan. During 2014 we sampled adult mosquitoes from May to November using a sweep net in Nagasaki, Japan. We recorded and managed our field data using Open Data Kit, which eased the overall process of data management before performing their statistical analysis. Here, we analyse the resulting biweekly time series of the bamboo mosquito abundance using time-series statistical techniques. Specifically, we test for density dependence in the population dynamics fitting the Ricker model. Parameter estimates for the Ricker model suggest that the bamboo mosquito is under density dependence regulation and that its population dynamics is stable. Our data also suggest the bamboo mosquito increased its abundance when temperature was more variable at our study site. Further work is warranted to better understand the linkage between the observed density dependence in the adults and the larvae of this mosquito species.

The population structure of the European earwig, Forficula auricularia Linnaeus (Dermaptera: Forficulidae), was investigated in three sites in eastern Canada (Montréal, Québec; Fredericton, New Brunswick; Truro, Nova Scotia), with two goals; describe the seasonal trends of the epigeal phase, and ascertain if the three studied populations belong to sibling species “A”, as opposed to sibling species “B” found in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Insects were collected using wooden grooved traps placed on lawns and tree trunks; traps were checked weekly from the first spring melt of the frost barrier until after autumn first frost (epigeal phase). The epigeal phase was short, about five months. The different instars and adults showed a single peak of abundance. No first instars, few second instars, and mostly fourth instars and adults were collected in the arborescent stratum. The data demonstrated that these three populations have the same epigeal phenology. The interbreeding experiment established that the three studied populations belong to the same sibling species (A) of F. auricularia, and differ from sibling species (B) from Vancouver. I suggest that the climatic conditions in eastern Canada are like those in other world regions where sibling species “A” is present, and that these regions represent the edge of the bioclimatic environment of this species because of its limits on reproduction.

The life history of the funnel weaver Eratigena agrestis (Walckenaer) (Araneae: Agelenidae) is not well studied despite its widespread occurrence in Europe and its establishment and spread in the Pacific Northwest of North America since its introduction in the early 20th century. We report phenology and life-history data for E. agrestis and another co-occurring funnel weaver, Eratigena atrica (Koch), in two study sites in British Columbia, Canada. The most notable difference in phenology between the two Eratigena species was the timing of emergence: E. atrica spiderlings emerge in the fall whereas E. agrestis spiderlings emerge in the spring. Surprisingly, the contrasting densities of E. atrica in the two study sites and the presence of the western black widow spider, Latrodectus hesperus Chamberlin and Ivie (Araneae: Theridiidae), in one study site had little effect on the life history of E. agrestis. This unexpected finding may be explained by (i) low overall competition pressure in the study habitats, (ii) conspecifics and heterospecifics exerting equivalent competition or predation pressures; and/or (iii) aggregations of heterospecifics providing benefits that offset costs associated with any competition.

The role of temperature in diapause induction was studied as a mode of long-term storage of Trichogramma chilonis (Ishii) (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae). Three different strains of this widely used biocontrol agent (T. chilonis Nilgiris strain, T. chilonis Kodaikanal strain, and T. chilonis 15 °C strain) reared on the factitious host Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) were used for this experiment. Except T. chilonis laboratory strain, all the other strains could successfully undergo diapause at their pre-pupal stage. Maximum percentage of healthy pre-pupae were recorded in the three strains by providing a pre-storage temperature of 10 °C for 35 days with eight hours of photophase wherein 75–87% could enter into diapause. Further, at a maintenance temperature of 5 °C with 24 hours of scotophase, diapause could be maintained. Diapause could be terminated after six months of storage with 23–36% of adult emergence. However, there was significant reduction in longevity and parasitism rate of the emerged adults. Considering superior biological parameters, 95 days of storage (including pre-storage duration) could provide around 60% adult emergence. Successful long-term storage of T. chilonis strains through diapause induction can facilitate commercial insectaries in stockpiling this biocontrol agent for large-scale field releases. This is the first study on successful induction and termination of diapause in T. chilonis strains and evaluating their performance attributes.

Aerial application of Mimic® 2LV to rising outbreak populations of the spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens); Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in Québec, Canada, resulted in high levels of population reduction at spray deposits of 0.5–1.2 μg tebufenozide/g of foliage. Application to potted host trees in outdoor enclosures followed by bioassays revealed multiple effects on spruce budworm survival and recruitment. Chronic (14-day) exposure of late-instars to treated foliage reduced larval survival and also pupal survival, mating success, and fecundity, depending on the product concentration applied. Treatments that produced foliar deposits of ~ 0.5–1.5 μg tebufenozide/g caused high larval mortality. Exposure to deposits of ~ 0.15–0.5 μg/g caused delayed mortality during the pupal stage and reduced the mating success of survivors, while exposure to ~ 0.07–0.15 μg/g reduced the fecundity of mated females. Sublethal exposure did not affect the progeny of survivors, either in egg hatch, survival during diapause, or survival and performance after diapause. Reduced survival during late-larval and pupal stages combined with lower recruitment as a result of reduced mating success and fecundity are likely to play a role in the suppression of Mimic®-treated spruce budworm populations in the years following treatment.

Tetropium fuscum (Fabricius) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) is an invasive phloeophagous beetle established in Atlantic Canada that infests stressed and moribund Picea Dietrich (Pinaceae) species. Successfully colonised trees tend to be large in diameter (>10 cm diameter at breast height), but whether diameter influences host selection, larval performance, or both, is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that T. fuscum host selection is influenced by visual cues associated with tree diameter by counting the number of adults landing on 29 Picea rubens Sargent ranging in diameter at breast height from 12.2 to 37.5 cm. All trees were wrapped with sticky bands and baited with aggregation pheromone and host volatiles to make them equally attractive with regard to olfactory cues. We found significant positive relationships between the mean number of T. fuscum per sticky band and tree diameter, and also between phloem thickness and tree diameter. We conclude that the positive association between host diameter and T. fuscum infestation is at least partially due to the positive influence of diameter on landing rate, and that this may benefit the beetle because larger diameter trees have more food for developing larvae. However, there was no effect of tree diameter on the mean number of adults per m2 of sticky band and thus no evidence that T. fuscum actively selects larger diameter hosts based on visual cues. The positive relationship between landing rate and host diameter may simply be due to greater chances of airborne beetles being passively intercepted on larger versus smaller trees.