Summary of the meeting of the
Scientific Committee for the Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial
Arthropods), October 2004
The Scientific Committee met in Charlottetown on October
18-19, 2004.
Scientific projects
1. Grasslands
Five chapters for the first grasslands volume, on ecology and interactions
in grasslands habitats, have been submitted and are ready for external
review. Two more chapters are currently in the final stages and should be
submitted in a couple of weeks. Five other chapters have been promised soon.
Planning is ongoing for volume 2 on arthropods in human altered grasslands
and for volume 3, on faunistics.
The grasslands focus site and field trip was held
successfully in 2004 at Aweme, Manitoba in conjunction with a bioblitz for
all taxa. Planning is underway for a similar effort in 2005, as a joint
effort of the grasslands and forest arthropod projects, at Waterton Lakes
National Park. That area has a wonderful selection of natural forests and
grasslands and covers a number of different subregions such as alpine,
montane and boreal forests and Parks Canada supports the idea.
2. Family keys
Dr. Scudder reported that the B.C. family keys should be finished this
fiscal year. The Canadian key to exopterygotes can be completed shortly
after the BC key is done. Discussions about the format and audience for the
Canadian key, and the endopterygote key, led into the following item.
3. Arthropods of Canada – a modular e-journal of the
BSC
Dr. Marshall introduced this idea for a project to make the fauna more
identifiable. The BSC could profitably integrate various regional efforts
into a high profile, centrally organized but modular Biological Survey
project to facilitate the identification of Canadian arthropods. Because of
the way digital technology has changed in recent years and because of the
increased ease and decreased cost with which anyone can make good digital
images of habitus but also of characters, many people can put together a key
for specific regional groups, which would be placed as reviewed
contributions in a national forum endorsed by the BSC. After extended
discussion about the scope and requirements of such a project, the idea was
strongly endorsed, and a subcommittee will carry it forward.
4. Terrestrial arthropods of Newfoundland and Labrador
Databases and keys continue to be developed for this project; work on
the beetles is relatively advanced. A database of entomological literature
dealing with NF/LB as well as a database of NF/LB taxa and collection
localities continues to be developed. Publication options are under
consideration.
5. Forest arthropods
The first issue of the Arthropods of Canadian Forests Newsletter will be
published in February 2005. The first issue will contain an introduction to
the BSC Forest Arthropods Project, project updates, feature articles, new
publication listings, news and opportunities, and other items including
information about the 2005 Waterton grasslands-forests field trip. The
Newsletter will be distributed in electronic format.
A symposium tentatively entitled ‘Arthropods as
Ecological Indicators in Forests’ will take place at the 2005 ESC-ESAlberta
meeting. The plan at this stage is to have a full-day symposium that will
feature a set of synthesis papers. It is hoped to publish these papers,
supplemented by other solicited articles, as a unit.
A project on the Cerambycidae of Canada and Alaska was
recently initiated, including taxonomic and database work.
6. Insects of the arctic
Some background information about arctic science was provided. Dr.
Giberson noted that no arthropod projects received an NSERC northern
supplement in 2004 even though some people had applied. In 2004, arctic
collections had been made in western Alaska and a Malaise trap was run
during the summer in a river 30 km outside Rankin Inlet. Travels to the
Rankin area and to Siberia are likely in 2005 in the context of this
project.
7. Seasonal adaptations
Dr. Danks reported on symposium presentations and published papers
relevant to this project. Some other papers prepared as contributions to
proceedings or as compilations have been delayed by the tardiness of other
authors. Other papers on insect life cycles are being planned, and Dr. Danks
will spend several months in Japan as a visiting professor at the Research
Institute for Bioresources of Okayama University where research on seasonal
adaptations takes place.
Other scientific priorities
1. Invasions and reductions
Extensive consultations with a range of interested parties (including
government representatives as well as Committee members and non-insect as
well as insect specialists) had been held about the possible scope of a
symposium on invasive species. The key need is for a scientific synthesis.
The BSC therefore considered whether a broad stand-alone symposium over
several days including other terrestrial taxa and with a follow-up workshop
component (aiming at national profile and products of broader scope) or a
smaller arthropod-focused symposium is preferable. The Committee concluded
that an arthropod symposium, focused on key science issues rather than
policy, should be developed. The focus of the symposium will be considered
further so that detailed planning can begin.
Work on the coccinellid project continues with databasing
of collection records and other activities. The Committee discussed
especially the needs for web-based data storage and availability, and the
needed structure will be explored further by project participants.
2. Survey web site
A number of changes have been made to the BSC web site, including added
pages and information especially about the forest arthropods project, and
the Biological Survey of Canada Postgraduate Scholarship. Some translations
had been added too. Other additions are planned. A new web site counter was
installed, providing some interesting information about visitors and page
visits. For example, over four months the BSC site had 12,448 unique
visitors, averaging more than 100 per day and the number of visitors
continues to increase up to 200 unique visitors per day. During recent
periods articles on spiders were the most frequently visited items, coming
from a variety of search terms for spiders. The majority of visitors reach
the BSC web pages via search engines, but some other websites have
unsolicited links to the BSC pages. About half of the users originate in
Canada and the remainder come from all over the world.
3. Survey publicity
The Survey poster was shown at the meeting of the North American
Benthological Society. A short introduction to the BSC was given at the ESC/AES
symposium on the Insects of the Canadian Arctic Central Barrens. Ways to
formalize Survey symposia at the ESC meetings were discussed.
4. Arthropods and fire
A symposium on fire and arthropods will be held at the ESC/ESA 2005
joint annual meeting in Canmore.
5. Arthropods of the Gulf of St. Lawrence Islands
This recently launched project has now begun with some collecting in a
few places and consideration of protocols for trapping methods and so on.
6. BSC
award
The ESC had received donations covering the first award, just made in
2004. Donations for the first 2 years of this award from the H.V. Danks
trust fund have ensured that this award is now fully funded for the
foreseeable future. However, further donations will be solicited to allow
for inflation and to allow the award to be given more frequently. Also,
efforts will be made before the next award to advertise it more widely and
thus ensure that there are numerous suitable applications. A specific award
certificate will be designed for future BSC awards.
7. Biodiversity sampling brief
The Committee agreed that an update of the 1994 BSC brief on
biodiversity sampling would be useful. However, this material might best be
included in an update of the first volume of the Handbook series, and this
possibility will first be pursued by discussion with the relevant people.
8. Databasing The Committee considered various updates and information. For
example, two recent large CFI proposals for databasing work were rejected.
Projects in various places are succeeding in databasing specimens and making
that information available. The Committee established a subcommittee to
develop ideas for a simple list of geographic coordinates for common and/or
historic collecting localities.
9. Monitoring of continuing priorities Some other Survey interests were reviewed, including arthropod fauna
of soils (a symposium on invertebrates of soils will be held at the 2005
Joint Annual meeting), arthropods of aquatic habitats (the North American
Benthological Society meeting was held in Vancouver in 2004 and was attended
by about 850 people, and there seems to be a particular resurgence of
aquatic research in the Maritimes), the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii)
(a paper on the insular black flies of North America will soon be
published), arthropod ectoparasites of vertebrates, agroecosystems
(including a major Agriculture Canada initiative, the National Land and
Water Information System, bringing together georeferenced data sets),
projects on spiders, and a developing project on the Lepidoptera of Quebec.
10. Other priorities The Committee also considered actions and information about
dissemination of Survey briefs (two recently translated briefs "Normes
d'étiquetage pour les arthropodes terrestres" and "Le rôle des
spécimens de référence pour valider les recherches faunistiques et
écologiques" were distributed with Antennae, the bulletin of the
Société d’entomologie du Québec, and widely distributed in other ways),
endangered species (including current expansion of the COSEWIC arthropod
species specialist subcommittee), and the faunal analysis project.
Liaison and exchange of information
1. Canadian Museum of Nature
A report from Mr. Roger Baird, Director of
Collection Services, noted that full-scale construction has commenced on the
Victoria Memorial Museum Building. A major renovation of this historic
heritage building is now fully underway and will be finished in 2009,
including architectural changes to the building, upgrades to the
infrastructure, relocation, refurbishment and redevelopment of galleries and
exhibitions, and their supporting programmes and changes to visitor
amenities and grounds landscaping.
Mr. Baird had participated in two important meetings held
in Washington DC. The inaugural meeting of the Consortium of the Barcode of
Life (CBOL) established the organizational structures required to meet
future goals for this international collaboration of natural history
museums, herbaria, molecular systematics laboratories, and conservation
sites. The CBOL is seeking to advance the completion of DNA barcoding for
millions of species, by pursuing DNA barcoding activities in collaboration
with major related initiatives such as the Global Biodiversity Information
Facility, GenBank, and the Census of Marine Life. Mr. Baird noted that DNA
barcoding is not intended to supplant or otherwise invalidate existing
taxonomic practice; it is not "DNA-based taxonomy" but is an
extension of the existing taxonomic system. The first International
Conference for the Barcoding of Life in February 2005 will be hosted by the
Natural History Museum, London (NHM).
The annual general meeting of the Natural Science
Collections Alliance (formerly the Association of Systematics Collections)
was held at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
in May 2004. A key element of the meeting was the pursuit of a communication
strategy that emphasizes the value of collections, systematics and taxonomy.
Mr. Baird noted parallels between this collaboration and that of the
Alliance of Natural History Museums of Canada (ANHMC), which joins together
institutions from across Canada that share similar and potentially
overlapping mandates focusing on the natural history of our country. Natural
history museums can provide better service, and be better served, through a
coordinated approach to educating general and special audiences about the
value of their collections. Pilot projects underway include communications
strategies and an examination of the degree to which the alliance is aware
of the collections and taxonomic expertise distributed within (and even
absent from) its membership. Members of the Committee commented that the
Alliance of Natural History Museums of Canada is weakened by excluding
university natural history collections and by confining consultation and
structural planning to a restricted group.
2. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Dr. Landry reported that there have been few major developments at
the Ottawa centre in the last 6 months, although the department remains
under reorganization. Systematics and taxonomy in the CNC are part of the
Biodiversity Science Program. All invertebrate systematists are part of the
Invertebrate Biodiversity Study and Dr. Peter Mason is the study leader.
This program is part of a larger national program called Environmental
Health which has been in place for a couple of years but the management
structure for the programs is still undecided. Currently Science Directors
are responsible for the programs on a national basis and Site Directors
manage the research stations. At the CNC the newly hired scientists are
settling in and have received resources to set up laboratories and begin
research programs. The Identification Service is being rejuvenated and is
undergoing a transition from a paper-based system to a more efficient
computer-based system.
Dr. Landry provided an update about the revised Handbooks
series including publications planned in the near future. Some earlier
handbooks that are no longer in print will also be reprinted. An update of
the volume on collecting techniques is being considered.
3. Entomological Society of Canada Dr. Bob Lamb, President of the ESC, emphasized that the Society
recognizes the importance of the Biological Survey of Canada, and he
congratulated the Survey on its first 25 years or so of activity. In
particular, the entomological community has been a strong and vibrant force
over that time, and the BSC has had many important influences and
contributions. Dr. Lamb explained that in coming to this meeting he was
prompted to think about what has made the BSC strong and able to contribute
to the entomological community. Dr. Lamb thinks that the BSC has helped to
guide or coordinate research in a remarkable way. He went on to say that
this is why the BSC needs to be associated with the Canadian Museum of
Nature. He also recognized the collegial structure of the BSC, and the
importance of a strong research presence in the Secretariat. He looked
forward to learning more and helping to promote the Survey’s efforts.
4. Parks Canada A representative of the Atlantic office of Parks Canada was expected
to attend the meeting but in the end was unable to do so. Nevertheless, the
Survey undertook to acknowledge this interest and encourage the continuance
of regional cooperation.
5. Regulation of classical biocontrol agents Dr. Peter Mason, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Canadian
Biocontrol Review Committee explained developments about the regulation of
biocontrol agents for which there were no regulations before 1990. He
reported on the process now. A process is in place through the initiative of
the biocontrol community, which is steadily being implemented. The Committee
discussed some of these issues at length with Dr. Mason.
Other items
1. Regional developments
Information of potential interest from different parts of the country was
reported. For example, in British Columbia, the BC Wildlife Act has been
modified to include more than birds and mammals but does not specifically
list what else is covered. Fires in the south Okanagan (in the Behr’s
hairstreak antelope brush community) were first thought to be caused by an
osprey’s nest that fell on to electrical wires but apparently what really
happened was a fire in Okanagan Mountain Park, caused when the power was
rerouted and overloaded the system. A power substation will be installed in
the south Okanagan in an antelope brush community, with financial
compensation for loss of some of this habitat, which the Nature Trust has
used to purchase antelope brush property. Recent climate change scenarios
for British Columbia show that grasslands will be much more extensive in the
future. There is much concern in B.C. currently about the mountain pine
beetle, which is expanding rapidly, and attacking y ounger stands. The chief
forester has increased the allowable cut by 10% and there is now concern for
the long-term social and economic impacts because there will be no logs to
harvest in future.
In the Prairies, a major project was noted looking at the
interface between Agriculture and Forestry across the country, with study
sites in Saskatchewan (canola crop), Ontario (alfalfa and soy bean) and Nova
Scotia (blueberry). All sites are being monitored the same way with pitfall
traps, pan traps and sweep samples, using a split plot design to look at the
impact of agriculture without shelter belts or forested areas and comparing
them to forested areas. Results will be compared over the next three years.
The specimens are sorted on location and some groups of interest will be
sent to the CNC in Ottawa. Graduate student projects and databasing efforts
in various places on the prairies were also noted together with some other
biodiversity-related projects.
In Ontario, a variety of staffing actions and student
projects were noted.
In Quebec, government and university projects were
outlined, including work on various taxa and work on forest biodiversity.
The Université de Montréal has advertised for a faculty position in
invertebrate systematics and biodiversity for the third time. The university
has a good collection that needs work. The annual meeting of the Société
d'entomologie du Québec will be in Montreal, November 4-5. The value of
regional journals in Quebec such as Fabreries, the journal of the
Association des entomologistes amateurs du Québec, for publishing baseline
data was highlighted.
In Newfoundland and Labrador and the Maritimes, projects
in forests and elsewhere were described from across the region including
surveys of groups such as macrolepidoptera, beetles and dragonflies. A new
online journal of the Acadian Entomological Society which will be out soon,
is a peer-reviewed regional journal without page charges. A website has been
established to assist lay people and researchers interested in beetles in
Atlantic Canada: [Beetles of Atlantic Canada website located at: http://chebucto.ca/Environment/NHR/atlantic_coleoptera.html].
At the official opening of the NSERC regional office in Moncton in October
(to deal mainly with industrial research partnerships and how to use
innovative technology to make jobs and money) there was a striking lack of
interest in biodiversity issues.
For the Arctic, the BBC is interested in filming things
from habitats around the world, including certain arctic species.
2. General operations of the Biological Survey
Secretariat The regular roles of the Survey were noted, such as the BSC
Newsletter and website. The BSC program of visits for discussions and
seminars on different subjects continues. Reports now being made from the
BSC to the ESC Governing Board highlight items of particular relevance to
the ESC, such as the BSC award and the fact that the Committee is meeting in
association with the ESC’s annual meeting. The Renewal Project at the
Canadian Museum of Nature – the refit of the downtown exhibits building
and new galleries – continues to put a strain on CMN resources, with
significant implications for future budgets. The BSC succession document
that was submitted earlier to the Museum was well received and the CMN has
been canvassing feedback more widely from various government
representatives, professional societies and other individuals, including
some positive comments.
3. Other matters
The Survey Committee also considered liaison with other organizations,
membership of the Scientific Committee, commentary to the Biodiversity
Convention Office, and the annual report to the Canadian Museum of Nature.