Welcome to our iNaturalist project!
The purpose of this project is to track forest pests found in Nova Scotia. This information will aid scientists in detecting the occurrence of both native and invasive pest species and gain a better understanding of their distribution and potential abundance.
Each year Nova Scotia’s forest are damaged by a number of insect pests and diseases, as well as various abiotic agents (e.g. frost, wind, drought, flooding). Damage from these forest pests and abiotic agents can slow tree growth, impact tree health, and lead to tree mortality or death.
While natural disturbances occur from these damaging pests, they are also a source of food for wildlife and other insects. In contrast, there are many other insects considered beneficial which provide various ecological roles including decomposition, nutrient recycling, and pollination. The aim of this project is to raise the awareness of the threat from damaging invasive and native forest pests.
As a member of this project you are a community scientist, and a valuable source of information to those of us interested in various forest pest insects. A community scientist, or citizen scientist is a member of the general public, who helps scientists by contributing to research projects. When you report a forest pest species to our iNaturalist project, you become part of the citizen science community.
So far, our fledgling iNaturalist project has already collected over 1700 observations of 24 of the 34 species that we have identified as forest pests. As our project matures our plan is to expand our list to include pests of specific hosts plants or pests of concern, past and present and closely monitor for potential new invasive pests that may threaten the trees of our yards, parks and forests.
Regularly we will be highlighting a forest pest species to provide our valued members with a better understanding of the species they have been reporting. We thank you for your observations and for contributing to the Forest Pests of Nova Scotia iNaturalist project.
Please forward any questions to forest.health@novascotia.ca
