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Arthropods
of Canadian Grasslands
Native grasslands are one of the most
recognizable biomes in Canada, one of the most altered by human
activity, and one of the most endangered. Grasslands are also among the
most incompletely studied biomes in terms of their animal biodiversity.
Other than a few pest species, the arthropods of Canada's grasslands
have been virtually ignored, despite the crucial role they play in
maintaining the ecological balance of these ecosystems. The primary goal
of the Grasslands Project is to coordinate research on the diversity,
ecology and impacts of the arthropods of Canadian grasslands. The
project involves a large number of specialists with expertise on
different taxa, in different geographic regions, and with different
research interests.
Given the high
diversity of grassland arthropod taxa, the wide range of ecological
conditions, and the breadth of human impacts and ecological change in
grasslands, the focus and products of the Grasslands Project will be
equally diverse. As with any comprehensive biological study, the project
will require basic research on the diversity and distribution of
selected taxa of grassland arthropods. More comprehensive ecological
studies on selected grassland habitats or regions are also feasible.
Finally, grassland ecosystems provide an excellent opportunity to study
the effects of human activity on the native flora and fauna, as well as
the effects of arthropods on human activities
Publications
Three major volumes dealing with different aspects of the diversity,
ecology and interactions of Canadian grassland arthropods are planned.
The first
major volume in progress is Arthropods of Canadian grasslands:
ecology and interactions in grassland habitats, edited by J.D. Shorthouse, and K.D. Floate. The focus of the chapters in this volume is
the ecological relationships and interactions of arthropods in selected
grassland habitats. This volume is scheduled for publication in 2009.
The following is a list of the authors and chapter titles planned for the first volume:
1. Shorthouse, J.D., and D. Larson. Introduction to the arthropods of Canada's grasslands.
2. Shorthouse, J.D. Canada’s prairie grasslands.
3. Shorthouse, J.D. Grasslands of British Columbia, the Yukon, and Southern Ontario.
4. Shorthouse, J.D. Grasslands as habitats for arthropods.
5. McGinn, S.M. Weather and climate patterns in Canadian grasslands.
6. Scudder, G.G.E. Grasslands: biodiversity hotspots for some arthropods in British Columbia.
7. Scudder, G.G.E.., M.A. Alperyn, and R.E. Roughley. The aquatic Hemiptera of prairie grasslands and parklands.
8. Behan-Pelletier, V.M. and D. Kanashiro. Acari in grassland soils of Canada.
9. Alperyn, M.A. and R.E. Roughley. Community ecology of predacious diving beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) in boreal and prairie ponds across southern Manitoba.
10. Hamilton, K.G.A. and R.F. Whitcomb. Leafhoppers (Insecta: Homoptera: Cicadellidae) as indicators of grassland habitats.
11. Paiero, S.M., S.A. Marshall, P.D. Pratt, and M. Buck. The insects of a southern Ontario tallgrass prairie.
12. Roughley, R.E., D.A. Pollock, and D.J. Wade. Tallgrass prairie, ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidare) and the use of fire as biodiversity and conservation management tool.
13. Wade, D.J. and R.E. Roughley. The responses of a tallgrass prairie spider (Araneae) community to various burn seasons and its importance to tallgrass prairie management.
14. Shorthouse, J.D. Galls induced by cynipid wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) on the wild roses of Canada’s grasslands.
15. Floate, K.D. Galling arthropods associated with the hybrid complex of Populus (Salicaceae) on the prairies.
The second volume, Arthropods and Altered Grassland
Ecosystems, will provide general information on the arthropods of Canada's prairie grassland habitats altered by human activity. These activities, primarily agriculture and livestock production, have affected virtually all of Canada's grasslands to varying degrees. Most chapters will summarize the arthropod communities in a given agro-ecosystem or habitat type, and describe the ecological roles of the most significant members in these communities.
Work on this volume is now in progress.
The planned chapters (as of January 2009) include:
- Arthropods of animal dung
- Arthropods of cereal crops in Canadian Grasslands
- Arthropods affecting pastured livestock
- Arthropods of oilseed crops in Canadian Grasslands
- Arthropods of prairie wetlands: community composition, ecological roles and impacts of agriculture
- Arthropods of the South Saskatchewan River
- Arthropods of sand hill habitats
- Arthropods of stored cereals, oilseeds, and their products in Canada: artificial ecosystems on grasslands
- Arthropods of sunflowers
- Orthoptera of pastures
- Soil micro-arthropods excluding mites
- Overview: anthropomorphic changes of Canadian grasslands
- Arthropods introduced as biocontrol agents (insects, weeds)
- Arthropods of forage crops
- Conservation of arthropods on the prairies
Additional contributions are still welcome. For more information please contact the Editor - Kevin Floate (Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada) floatek@agr.gc.ca.
Volume III, Biodiversity of Arthropods in Canadian Grasslands, will have a taxonomic focus and will include extensive species' checklists and faunistic analyses of select arthropod groups.
Focus
site/Bioblitzes
Focus site field trips, or Bioblitzes as they became known, were envisaged as a series of field excursions to different prairie ecozones by entomologists with interests in prairie insects and related arthropods. The main, long-term goal of these gatherings was to generate collections of arthropods in selected prairie habitats to help to document the fauna. It was also hoped that participants would exchange and share information and observations about various taxonomic groups, field tactics and techniques. See the BioBlitz page for more information and reports from past BioBlitzes.
Prospectus: Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands
The
prospectus for the Grasslands Project provides a framework for characterizing Canadian
grassland habitats, a scientific rationale for the project, and an outline of potential
products (books, conference symposia, electronic publications and databases) on the
arthropods of Canadian grasslands. The
full text of the prospectus (prepared in 2001) is available here.
Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands Newsletter
This
newsletter was published from 1983 (No. 1) to 2005 (No. 11) to provide updates on research activities, news of interest and a
forum for collaborators working on arthropods of Canadian grasslands. All back issues
of the Grasslands Newsletter are
available on line. After the printed version of the newsletter was discontinued an attempt was made to continue the newsletter online. Articles that might otherwise have appeared in the Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands Newsletter were posted on this web site (see Online
articles).
Informal Conference: Arthropods of Grasslands: Current Status and Future Directions
This conference was held in conjunction with the Joint Annual Meeting of
the Entomological Societies of America, Canada and Quebec in Montreal, QC,
in December 2000. A summary of the papers presented at the informal
conference was published in the Grasslands Newsletter, Volume 7, 2001
Symposium
on Grassland Arthropods, October 2002
A
symposium entitled "Arthropods of Canadian grasslands: ecology and
interactions in grassland habitats" was held October 8, 2002 at the Annual Meeting of
the Entomological Society of Canada in Winnipeg, MB. Abstracts
are posted on this website.
References
about prairie, tallgrass prairie, prairie arthropods and/or fire
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