Tracking the North American Asian Longhorned Beetle Invasion With Genomics.

Biological invasions pose significant threats to ecological and economic stability, with invasive pests like the Asian longhorned beetle ( Motschulsky, ALB) causing substantial damage to forest ecosystems. Effective pest management relies on comprehensive knowledge of the insect's biology and invasion history. This study uses genomics to address these knowledge gaps and inform existing biosurveillance frameworks.

Simulations reveal variability in exposure to drier conditions during timing of budbreak for tree species of the mixedwood forests of Québec, Canada.

Due to climate change, the timing of budbreak is occurring earlier in temperate and boreal tree species. Since the warmer conditions also cause snow to melt earlier in the spring, the hypothesis that bud reactivation of tree species of the mixedwood forests of Québec would occur under drier conditions in the future and that species from the temperate forests with late budbreak would be most exposed to dry conditions was tested. The thermal-time bud phenology model was used to predict the timing of budbreak for early and late species using 300 and 500 growing degree-days as the threshold for the timing of budbreak.

Catching invasives with curiosity: the importance of passive biosecurity surveillance systems for invasive forest pest detection.

First detections of nonnative insect species are often made by curious members of the public rather than by specialists or trained professionals. Passive surveillance is a crucial component of national biosecurity surveillance, highlighted by early detection case studies of several prominent nonnative arthropod pests (e.g.

Drivers and Impacts of the Record-Breaking 2023 Wildfire Season in Canada.

The 2023 wildfire season in Canada was unprecedented in its scale and intensity, spanning from mid-April to late October and across much of the forested regions of Canada. Here, we summarize the main causes and impacts of this exceptional season. The record-breaking total area burned (~15 Mha) can be attributed to several environmental factors that converged early in the season: early snowmelt, multiannual drought conditions in western Canada, and the rapid transition to drought in eastern Canada.

Response of stream habitat and microbiomes to spruce budworm defoliation: New considerations for outbreak management.

Defoliation by eastern spruce budworm is one of the most important natural disturbances in Canadian boreal and hemi-boreal forests with annual area affected surpassing that of fire and harvest combined, and its impacts are projected to increase in frequency, severity, and range under future climate scenarios. Deciding on an active management strategy to control outbreaks and minimize broader economic, ecological, and social impacts is becoming increasingly important. These strategies differ in the degree to which defoliation is suppressed, but little is known about the downstream consequences of defoliation and, thus, the implications of management.

Peat profile database from peatlands in Canada.

Peatlands cover approximately 12% of the Canadian landscape and play an important role in the carbon cycle through their centennial- to millennial-scale storage of carbon under waterlogged and anoxic conditions. In recognizing the potential of these ecosystems as natural climate solutions and therefore the need to include them in national greenhouse gas inventories, the Canadian Model for Peatlands module (CaMP v. 2.

New and Interesting Fungi. 7.

Two new genera, 17 new species, two epitypes, and six interesting new host and / or geographical records are introduced in this study. New genera include: (based on ) and (based on ). New species include: (from hypersaline sea water, Qatar), (from mycangia of , USA), (on leaves of , Brazil), (from pre-stored , South Africa), (from soil, South Africa), (from dead capsule of , Germany), (from house dust, Canada), (from soil, South Africa), (on ascomata of ascomycete on twigs of , South Africa), (on leaf litter, Spain), (on larva, Thailand), (from soil, South Africa), (from pasture mulch, South Africa), (from soil, South Africa), (on stem, bark of living tree of sp.

Confirmation that Monochamol is a Male Produced Aggregation-Sex Pheromone for Monochamus maculosus Haldeman (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).

The recognition of cerambycids as frequent and damaging invaders led to an increase in the interest in the chemical ecology of the group with the identification of pheromones and pheromone-like attractants for well over 100 species. Pheromone components of the Cerambycidae are often phylogenetically conserved, with a single compound serving as a pheromone component for several related species. In the subfamily Lamiinae, the compound 2-(undecyloxy)ethanol (monochamol) has been identified as an aggregation-sex pheromone for several species of the genus Monochamus.

PostBP: A Python library to analyze outputs from wildfire growth models.

Wildfire is an important natural disturbance agent in Canadian forests, but it has also caused significant economic damage nationwide. Spatial fire growth models have emerged as important tools for representing wildfire dynamics across diverse landscapes, enabling the mapping of key wildfire hazard metrics such as location-specific burn probabilities or likelihoods of fire ignition. While these summary metrics have gained popularity, they often fall short in capturing the directional spread of wildfires and their potential spread distances.

Sublethal pesticide exposure in non-target terrestrial ecosystems: From known effects on individuals to potential consequences on trophic interactions and network functioning.

Over the last decades, the intensification of agriculture has resulted in an increasing use of pesticides, which has led to widespread contamination of non-target ecosystems in agricultural landscapes. Plants and arthropods inhabiting these systems are therefore chronically exposed to, at least, low levels of pesticides through direct pesticide drift, but also through the contamination of their nutrient sources (e.g.

Functional responses of understory plants to natural disturbance-based management in eastern and western Canada.

Natural disturbance-based management (NDBM) is hypothesized to maintain managed forest ecosystem integrity by reducing differences between natural and managed forests. The effectiveness of this approach often entails local comparisons of species composition or diversity for a variety of biota from managed and unmanaged forests. Understory vegetation is regularly the focus of such comparison because of its importance in nutrient cycling, forest regeneration, and for wildlife.

Effect of a severe cold spell on overwintering survival of an invasive forest insect pest.

Cold temperatures can play a significant role in the range and impact of pest insects. Severe cold events can reduce the size of insect outbreaks and perhaps even cause outbreaks to end. Measuring the precise impact of cold events, however, can be difficult because estimates of insect mortality are often made at the end of the winter season.

The Canadian Fire Spread Dataset.

Satellite data are effective for mapping wildfires, particularly in remote locations where monitoring is rare. Geolocated fire detections can be used for enhanced fire management and fire modelling through daily fire progression mapping. Here we present the Canadian Fire Spread Dataset (CFSDS), encompassing interpolated progressions for fires >1,000 ha in Canada from 2002-2021, representing the day-of-burning and 50 environmental covariates for every pixel.

Spatial datasets of 30-year (1991-2020) average monthly total precipitation and minimum/maximum temperature for Canada and the United States.

Thin plate smoothing spline models, covering Canada and the continental United States, were developed using ANUSPLIN for 30-year (1991-2020) monthly mean maximum and minimum temperature and precipitation. These models employed monthly weather station values from the North American dataset published by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Maximum temperature mean absolute errors (MAEs) ranged between 0.

A modest increase in fire weather overcomes resistance to fire spread in recently burned boreal forests.

Recently burned boreal forests have lower aboveground fuel loads, generating a negative feedback to subsequent wildfires. Despite this feedback, short-interval reburns (≤20 years between fires) are possible under extreme weather conditions. Reburns have consequences for ecosystem recovery, leading to enduring vegetation change.

A cost-benefit analysis of WildFireSat, a wildfire monitoring satellite mission for Canada.

In anticipation of growing wildfire management challenges, the Canadian government is investing in WildFireSat, an Earth observation satellite mission designed to collect data in support of Canadian wildfire management. Although costs of the mission can be reasonably estimated, the benefits of such an investment are unknown. Here we forecast the possible benefits of WildFireSat via an avoided cost approach.

Characteristics of logs with signs of oviposition by the polyphagous xylophage Asian longhorned beetle (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).

During the eradication program undertaken against Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky) in the Greater Toronto Area, information was collected on the numerous signs of injury found on wounded trees. Herein, we used a portion of this information to assess the characteristics of logs with signs of oviposition (i.e.

Amsacta moorei entomopoxvirus encodes a protein kinase with dual activity and a broad substrate spectrum including two putative cellular substrates.

Amsacta moorei entomopoxvirus (AMEV) is a poxvirus that can only infect insects. This virus is an attractive research material because it is similar to smallpox virus. AMEV is one of many viruses that encode protein kinases that drive the host's cellular mechanisms, modifying immune responses to it, and regulating viral protein activity.

The molecular diversity of dissolved organic matter in forest streams across central Canadian boreal watersheds.

Small headwater streams can mobilize large amounts of terrestrially derived dissolved organic matter (DOM). While the molecular composition of DOM has important controls on biogeochemical cycles and carbon cycling, how stationary landscape metrics affect DOM composition is poorly understood, particularly in relation to non-stationary effects from hydrological changes across seasons. Here, we apply a combination of Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) and absorbance spectroscopy to characterize stream DOM from 13 diverse watersheds across the central Canadian boreal forests and statistically relate DOM compositional characteristics to landscape topography and hydrological metrics.

The freeze-avoiding mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) survives prolonged exposure to stressful cold by mitigating ionoregulatory collapse.

Insect performance is linked to environmental temperature, and surviving through winter represents a key challenge for temperate, alpine and polar species. To overwinter, insects have adapted a range of strategies to become truly cold hardy. However, although the mechanisms underlying the ability to avoid or tolerate freezing have been well studied, little attention has been given to the challenge of maintaining ion homeostasis at frigid temperatures in these species, despite this limiting cold tolerance for insects susceptible to mild chilling.

A monthly gridded burned area database of national wildland fire data.

We assembled the first gridded burned area (BA) database of national wildfire data (ONFIRE), a comprehensive and integrated resource for researchers, non-government organisations, and government agencies analysing wildfires in various regions of the Earth. We extracted and harmonised records from different regions and sources using open and reproducible methods, providing data in a common framework for the whole period available (starting from 1950 in Australia, 1959 in Canada, 1985 in Chile, 1980 in Europe, and 1984 in the United States) up to 2021 on a common 1° × 1° grid. The data originate from national agencies (often, ground mapping), thus representing the best local expert knowledge.

Drought triggers and sustains overnight fires in North America.

Overnight fires are emerging in North America with previously unknown drivers and implications. This notable phenomenon challenges the traditional understanding of the 'active day, quiet night' model of the diurnal fire cycle and current fire management practices. Here we demonstrate that drought conditions promote overnight burning, which is a key mechanism fostering large active fires.

Mapping the distance between fire hazard and disaster for communities in Canadian forests.

Communities interspersed throughout the Canadian wildland are threatened by fires that have become bigger and more frequent in some parts of the country in recent decades. Identifying the fireshed (source area) and pathways from which wildland fire may ignite and spread from the landscape to a community is crucial for risk-reduction strategy and planning. We used outputs from a fire simulation model, including fire polygons and rate of spread, to map firesheds, fire pathways and corridors and spread distances for 1980 communities in the forested areas of Canada.