David W. Langor
Canadian Forest Service, Northern Forestry Centre, 5320 - 122 Street,
Edmonton, AB T6H 3S5 dlangor@nrcan.gc.ca
Since its establishment in 2003, the Forest Arthropods
Project has continued to expand to include new initiatives and participants.
The purpose of this project is to facilitate communication among scientists
working on forest arthropod biodiversity issues and undertake syntheses
focused on relevant science issues.
Communication
In March 2005, the Canadian Forest Service and BSC will jointly publish
the first issue of a new electronic newsletter, Arthropods of Canadian
Forests. This newsletter is being initiated to increase information exchange
among scientists involved in arthropod biodiversity work (faunistics,
conservation, ecology, systematics, etc.) in Canadian forests. The
newsletter will include project updates, feature articles, news,
opportunities, new publications, etc. Articles are accepted in either
official language. If you have news items, publication, advertisements that
you would like to appear in the March 2005 issue, please forward them to
David Langor by February 15 (dlangor@nrcan.gc.ca). Initially, one issue will
be published per year. The deadline for articles for the next issue is
December 31, 2005.
In 2004, a database
of projects focused on forest arthropod biodiversity work in Canada was
compiled and linked to the BSC website. This database is regularly updated.
Please send updates to David Langor. Check the first issue of the Arthropods
of Canadian Forests Newsletter for an analysis of the current contents of
the database.
Syntheses
A BSC-sponsored symposium, ‘Maintaining Arthropods in Northern Forest
Ecosystems’, will take place at the ESC-ESAlberta meeting in Canmore,
Alberta, 3-6 November 2005. This symposium, organized by John Spence and
David Langor is an opportunity to pull together and synthesize what is known
about structure and dynamics of selected arthropod assemblages in managed
northern forests (mainly boreal and north temperate). The symposium will
include 6 papers that synthesize available information about specific
arthropod groups (Carabidae, Staphylinidae, Spiders, saproxylic arthropods,
Lepidoptera, and aquatic arthropods). Some of the topics covered by these
syntheses are: the spatial/temporal patterns in species richness and
assemblage composition, as influenced by geography, forest type, forest
succession, etc.; how assemblages respond to anthropogenic disturbances
(especially harvesting) and natural disturbances (e.g., wildfire); analysis
of species or kinds of species (e.g., dispersal ability, trophic group) most
threatened by forest management; adaptive forest management measures needed
to ensure that these organisms are maintained on forested landscapes;
critical gaps that need to be addressed next. It is planned that these
papers will be published in The Canadian Entomologist.
A group of BSC members (David McCorquodale, Serge
LaPlante, Jim Hammond and David Langor) have now teamed up to write a
handbook on "The Cerambycidae of Canada and Alaska". This work
aims to solve some existing taxonomic problems with the Canadian fauna,
produce a handbook for this family (profusely illustrated and with color
photos of all species), and build a database of specimens in Canadian
collections. Considerable effort has been made with databasing, especially
collections in eastern Canada. This project has received generous funding
from the USDA Forest Service and Canadian Forest Service.