White marked tussock population expansion
First off, we want to thank everyone who has joined our iNaturalist Project and submitted images of the forest pests that they’ve encountered this year. Our project has gathered over 2000 observations, on over 25 species from across the province. This information adds to our knowledge of where forest pests are being found and, in some cases, provides additional information on their biology. For example, our annual aerial survey had previously detected white marked tussock moth (WTM) from areas north of Truro where the pest is doing damage in pockets of hardwood and balsam fir. Through your observations it also appears that there are WMT populations in the western Annapolis valley into Digby areas. Multiple observations from single sites provide added information such as detailed knowledge on the flight of a particular moth or the early detection of reoccurring spring larva. In the case of WMT, observations this year increased our knowledge of when moth flight is occurring.
A big shout out to dbmcc09 in Cape Breton for observing the most pest species so far this year and to md-in-ns15 from Cape Sable Island for reporting the most pest observations.
As fall arrives a lot of the insects, including many of our forest pests, are not as visible in parks and woodlands across the province. Caterpillars have finished eating and most moths have laid all their eggs and are no longer lingering at our porch lights. But where do our forest pests go during the winter?
Insects have developed numerous strategies to survive our winters. With less food around and colder temperatures, most insects enter a stage of dormancy to survive. Many like the white marked tussock, the balsam fir sawfly and the Lymantria dispar (LD) moth (formally Gypsy moth) overwinter as eggs. Others such as spruce budworm survive as a tiny 2nd instar larva on the needles of it hosts. Wood boring insects such as spruce bark beetles or emerald ash borer also overwinter as larvae but are protected under the bark of their hosts trees. And then while others lay dormant in a cocoon or warm under leaf litter or tree bark, the hemlock woolly adelgid wakes up in early winter and feeds until spring.
Join us over the course of the fall and winter as we will explore the lives of a few of our forest pests. We will discuss how they survive the winter, how they may have impacted our forests over the past year and what to be on the look out for in the coming months. For additional information you can check out our Pest of the Acadian Forest Guide at:
https://novascotia.ca/natr/woodlot/pdf/Woodlot-Field-Guide-to-Pests-of-the-Acadian-Forest.pdf
Comentários
Adicionar um Comentário