Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods)

New Project: 
Arthropods of Canadian Forests

David W. Langor
Canadian Forest Service, Northern Forestry Centre, 
5320 - 122 Street, Edmonton, AB T6H 3S5 dlangor@nrcan.gc.ca

· There is much research activity across the country focusing on a wide variety of biodiversity issues, but most work is tightly focused on restricted faunistic inventories or localized testing of specific hypotheses.

· Information exchange is abysmal. Most groups work in isolated pockets and there is relatively little interchange of results or true collaboration.

· There is little synthetic activity to ascertain what is known and where important gaps are.

· Work is often criticized, poorly funded and non-influential because there is no cohesive overall plan.

· Develop an updated list of ongoing forest biodiversity projects. The last survey was completed in 1997 and is outdated. The database will be available on the BSC web site, and will be continually updated. This activity will highlight current activity in Canada and help to facilitate contact between researchers with complementary interests. The survey form is available here.

· Publish a newsletter, Arthropods of Canadian Forests, commencing in the spring of 2004. The newsletter will serve as a communication tool for encouraging information exchange and collaboration among those in Canada who work on forest arthropod biodiversity issues, including faunistics, systematics, conservation, disturbance ecology and adaptive forest management. Content will include: brief news articles concerning meetings, symposia, opportunities, collecting trips, etc.; project updates (short articles that introduce ongoing relevant projects in Canada); feature articles (overviews, summaries, commentaries or syntheses); a listing and brief review of featured publications and websites; and opportunities for graduate student programs, employment, collaboration, funding, etc.

· Sponsor and organize symposia and workshops on relevant topics. The BSC will start by hosting a symposium at the 2005 ESC/ESA meeting (Edmonton) to focus on epigaeic arthropods in forests. This symposium will review progress to date and highlight important gaps and opportunities.

· Construct new pages on the BSC web site to facilitate exchange of information.

· Currently, G.G.E. Scudder and R.G. Foottit are assessing the guild of sucking insects on Pinus banksiana (Jack pine) and P. contorta (Lodgepole pine) by extracting data from collections and by field collecting.

· Other specific activities are anticipated in the near future.

David Langor (dlangor@nrcan.gc.ca) or

Neville Winchester (tundrast@uvvm.uvic.ca).

About 45% of Canada’s land area is forested and 25% of the land area is represented by commercial forests. Fifteen terrestrial ecozones in Canada contain forest types, and two-thirds of Canada’s estimated 140,000 species of plants, animals and micro-organisms live in forests. Clearly, forests dominate life zones in the country to the extent that a study of their associated fauna is basic to a full understanding of the arthropod fauna of Canada. Forests also underpin a pillar of the Canadian economy, worth about $75 billion annually and contributing over 360,000 jobs directly, resulting in increased forest development activity. The search for a sustainable balance between ecological, economic and social values of forests drives the national forest policy agenda. The ecological values and services provided by forests are not fully understood or appreciated, a critical information gap that impedes optimal decision-making. In the absence of detailed knowledge of the full range of forest ecosystem functions, biological diversity represents a generally-accepted surrogate of functional ecosystem integration and, as such, is increasingly being included in the suite of forest management objectives for the Canadian forest industry. However, there is the realization that little is known about the vast majority of species, including arthropods, in forests and that improved knowledge (composition, variation, impacts of disturbances) of these groups is necessary to establish meaningful, operational biodiversity objectives as an essential component of sustainable forest management.