Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods)

Volume 25 No. 1, Spring 2006


 

News and Notes


 

General information and editorial notes

News and Notes:

Bio-Blitz 2006

Activities at the Entomological Societies' meeting

CMN workshop on Strategic Planning for a BSC

Summary of the Scientific Committee meeting

Project Update: Symposia and Workshops organized by the BSC

The Quiz Page

Ensuring the safety of biological control in Canada

Web site notes

Arctic Corner

Black fly diversity in Norman Wells
From the ASTIS databse

Selected future conferences

Quips and Quotes

Requests for Material or Information Invited

 

Activities at the Entomological Societies’ meeting

The 2005 joint annual meeting of the Entomological Society of Canada and the Entomological Society of Alberta took place in Canmore, Alberta, 2-5 November 2005. The meeting was attended by about 300 people. Many of these were student members and there were many entries for the student presentations competition. Items in the program included:

A plenary address by Dr. Michael Majerus on "The peppered moth: Decline of a Darwinian disciple".

Symposia from graduate students, and on "Maintaining arthropods in northern forest ecosystems", "Biology and diversity of arachnids", "Fire and arthropods" and "Wheat stem sawfly".

A workshop on Delia.

A demonstration on Constructing inexpensive databases for remote contributions: tools for biodiversity, systematics and collaborative efforts.

Numerous contributed papers in several sessions.

A student presentation competition for the President’s prizes of the Entomological Society of Canada, in several sessions – Pest management, Faunistics and systematics, Forest entomology, Parasitoids and biocontrol, and Terrestrial, riparian and aquatic ecology.

An extensive poster session, including a student competition for the President’s Prize.

The ESC Heritage Lecture given by Dr. David Larson entitled "The prairies then and now: Personal reflections on entomology and entomologists".

The ESC Gold Medal Address given by Dr. Peter Kevan.

Governing Board and Annual General Meetings also took place, the Gold Medal and other honours were awarded, and there were many opportunities for informal exchange of information, including an opening mixer and a banquet.

The ESC meeting was followed by the meeting of the Scientific Committee for the Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods).

Symposium on Maintaining arthropod diversity in forest systems
The symposium on maintaining arthropod diversity in forest systems, organized by the Biological Survey and sponsored by the University of Alberta, exposed data and evaluations about biodiversity in forest systems under various circumstances, including responses to natural and artificial disturbances.

Deciphering a complex web: the structure and dynamics of spider assemblages in disturbance-driven boreal forests. D.P. Shorthouse, C. Buddle

Using core species assemblages and rare carabid taxa to evaluate forest change in Canada. T. Work, J.R. Spence, D.W. Langor, M. Koivula, J. Sweeney

Rove beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) in northern forests. G. Pohl, D.W. Langor, J. Klimaszewski, T.T. Work

Maintaining saproxylic insects in managed forests. D.W. Langor, J.R. Spence, J.E.H. Hammond, J. Jacobs, T. Cobb

Structure and conservation of lepidopteran communities in managed forests of northeastern North America: a review. K. Summerville, T.O. Crist

Aquatic arthropods and large-scale land-use effects in temperate North America. J. Richardson

Unthreatening forest arthropods: simultaneous management of ‘beezillions’ of small and heterogenous risks. J. Spence, D.W. Langor, W.J.A. Volney, J. Jacobs

Symposium on "Fire and arthropods"
The symposium on fire and arthropods, organized by the Biological Survey, showed a variety of responses to fire in different ecosystems, including forest and grassland.

Introduction. A. Sternbjerg

Documenting fire characteristics: what is important in understanding fire and insect interactions? B. Hawkes

Pyrophilous arthropods and post-fire salvage harvesting: the ecological implications of an economic reality. T. Cobb, D.W. Langor, J.R. Spence, I.D. Phillips

Pyrophily in boreal insects: Do wildfires really contribute at maintaining higher populations? M. Saint-Germain, C.M. Buddle, P. Drapeau

Recovery of the arthropod fauna in an Antelope-brush community following destruction by fire. G.G.E. Scudder

Beetles, fire and tallgrass prairie. R.E. Roughley

Summary and conclusions. R.E. Roughley

Papers on systematics and related themes
Many presentations were made in contributed sessions on biodiversity. The following titles include some of the papers of faunal interest that were presented in these and various other scientific sessions, including posters. (Interesting treatments on a range of other subjects were presented in the various sessions.)

Effects of food limitation and density on carabid populations in forest floor enclosures. E. Esch, J. Jacobs, J. Spence

Ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) responses to different weed management practices in corn in southern Albera. S. Bourassa, J.R. Spence, H.A. Cárcamo, R.E. Blackshaw, K.D. Floate

Canopy oribatid mite communities in ancient Western red cedar. Z. Lindo, N.N. Winchester

Blood and tissue feeding parasitic mties on Alberta birds. W. Knee, H. Proctor

Unresolved roaches: phylogenetic analysis of Blattodea based on 16S and 28S. M. Djernaes

Recent advances in the systematics of the family Clusiidae (Diptera). O. Lonsdale, S. Marshall

Hybrid interactions between the spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana, and the two year cycle budworm, C. biennis (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). L. Lumley, F. Sperling

What the buzz is all about: a taxonomic revision of the Genus Piezura Rondani (Diptera: Fanniidae). A. Moores, J. Savage

Long morphological branches in the genus Nicrophorus (Coleoptera: Silphidae). T. Mousseau, D.S. Sikes

Do molecular data support an ancient rapid radiation in Nicrophorus (Coleoptera: Silphidae). C. Venables, D.S. Sikes

A taxonomic study of Anopheles (Diptera: Culicidae) based on cytogenetic and morphological data. A. Thielman, F.F. Hunter

Effects of seasonality and plant species on boreal rhizosphere invertebrate assemblages. D. Belter, H. Proctor

Ground-dwelling beetle and forest mosaic. C. Bergeron, J.R. Spence, W.J.A. Volney

Saproxylic beetles and woody debris decomposition in burned boreal forests: linking biodiversity to ecosystem function. T. Cobb, D.W. Langor, J.R. Spence, B. Kishchuk

Sericoda (Carabidae) beetles and Antennoseius (Ascidae) mites: the mystery continues. A. D. Déchêne, T.P. Cobb, H.C. Proctor, J.R. Spence

The response of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) to seral change in the sub-boreal forests of British Columbia. R. Higgins, B.S. Lindgren, D.A. McColl

A molecular approach to evaluating the ecological host range of European Peristenus spp. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), parasitoids of Lygus spp. (Hemiptera: Miridae). T. Gariepy, U. Kuhlmann, C. Gillott, M. Erlandson

Oviposition deterring signal found on housefly eggs. K. Lam, D. Babor, B. Duthie, E-M Babor, M. Moore, G. Gries

The dynamics of coexistence of three temperate species of web-building spiders in British Columbia. M. Salomon, S. Vibert, B.D. Roitberg

Comparison of component communities associated with cynipid galls near James Bay and central Ontario. M.J.T. Bodnar, J.D. Shorthouse

Characteristic communities, hungry hunters, and unknown immatures: studying spider assemblages in apple orchards. T. Sackett, C. Buddle, C. Vincent

Carabid beetle diversity associated with agroforestry buffers and its potential impact on adjacent field crops. C. Noronha

Phenology of lygus bugs (Miridae: Heteroptera) and their Peristenus nymphal parasitoids (Braconidae: Hymenoptera) in southern Alberta. H. Cárcamo, C. Herle, H. Goulet, J. Otani

Mesostigmatic mites in Australian wet forests: free-living predators can be habitat specific but why? F. Beaulieu, D.E. Walter, H.C. Proctor, R.L. Kitching

Beyond Matador: diversity of Oribatida in Canadian grasslands. V. Behan-Pelletier, D. Kanashiro, J.M. Clapperton

Cicurina (Dictynidae): the genus from hell. P. Paquin

Behavioural evolution in the jumping spider genus Habronattus. W. Maddison, M. Hedin

A review of the factors influencing spider diversity: Why do we have so many eight-legged freaks? C. Buddle, T.E. Sackett

Developing a directed approach for including spiders in Canada’s endangered species conservation efforts. R. Bennett

Rove beetles as a target group for biodiversity research on litter inhabiting fauna (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae). J. Klimaszewski

Fire severity, salvage logging and mixed-wood forest ground beetles (Carabidae). M. Koivula

Project IBISCA – Stratification and beta diversity of arthropods in a Panamanian rainforest. N. Winchester

Oribatid mite fauna of central British Columbia – Impact of harvesting and soil compaction on abundance and diversity 10 years later. J. Battigelli

Ant biodiversity in disturbed and undisturbed Guanacasta, Costa Rica lowland forest fragments. D. Larson

Validity of using chronosequence studies to predict carabid beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) assemblage response to forest succession in managed and natural jack pine (Pinus banksiana) forests in southeastern Manitoba. K. Ryan, N.J. Holliday, A.R. Westwood

Breaking down the break-down: The rise and fall of beetle empires. J. Jacobs, J.R. Spence, D.W. Langor

Hyperdiversity in the tropics: the role of spatial and ecological turnover of species of predatory mesostigmatic mites in Australia. F. Beaulieu

Brachychthoniidae from western Canadian Grasslands; a new examination of the genus Liochthonius. D. Kanashiro, M.J. Clapperton, V. Behan-Pelletier

Do feather mites choose hosts based on host body size? H. Proctor, S. Kembel

Spider-habitat associations in a disturbed coastal sand dune ecosystem in southwestern British Columbia. R. Bennett, M. Salomon

Does bad taxonomy serve conservation purposes? The case of the Cicurina cueva complex (Araneae: Dictynidae) in the vicinity of Austin (Travis Co.) Texas. P. Paquin, M. Hedin

The spider’s niche. K. Hancock, J. Hancock

Muscles, glands and genitalia – the utilization of soft-part morphology in butterfly systematics. T. Simonsen

The effects of time and preservation techniques on DNA quality in insect specimens. A. Roe, F.A.H. Sperling

Response of ground beetle assemblages (Carabidae) to cultivation of Bt corn during a 4-yr study. K. Floate, H.A. Cárcamo, R. Blackshaw, B. Postman, S. Bourassa

Colonisation and association of freshwater invertebrates with three species of wood in a temperate stream. N. Hofer, J.S. Richardson

Changes in distribution, abundance and phenology of Orthoptera in grassland, montane and alpine habitats during recent decades, with reference to influences of weather and vegetation. D. Johnson

Went down to the cemetery looking for beetles. D. Hartley, J.R. Spence

Review of the Harvestmen (Arachnida, Opiliones) of Canada. R. Holmberg

Biodiversity and ecologically-based pest management in agroecosystems. M. You

Flower visiting in a little-known Fly family: Are acrocerids pollinators or opportunists? C. Borkent

Gerrid diets: specialists for a surface smorgasbord. J. Spence

Pitfall trap depth in 3 forest habitats. C. Bergeron, J.R. Spence

Islands in the sky: oribatid mite communities in suspended soils of western red cedar as model systems of island biogeography and metacommunity dynamics. Z. Lindo

The Canadian Arachnologist On-line Spider Database. D. Shorthouse

Beetle diversity in burrowing owl pellets: impacts of agriculture on prey availability. P. Bouchard, R.G. Poulin, T. Wellicome, G. Holroyd

Diversity of gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) on bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa Michx.) in Riding Mountain National Park, MB. S. Digweed

Recent progress in Linyphiidae taxonomy. N. Dupérré, P. Paquin, D. Buckle, D. Ubick

Some of Waterton Lakes National Park’s spiders. J. Hancock

Habitat utilization of the pyrophilous beetle Sericoda quadripuctata (Carabidae) in burned white spruce stands. J. Jacobs

Rates of recovery of biodiversity of grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae, Tettigoniidae) and leafhoppers (Homoptera, Auchenorrhyncha: Cercopidae, Cicadellidae, Cicadidae) following intense wildfire in fescue foothills of Alberta. D. Johnson, K.G.A. Hamilton

Dynamics of a Lepidoptera (moth) community in managed boreal forests of northwestern Alberta, Canada. E. Kamunya, J.R. Spence, W.J.A. Volney

A coarse filter approach to conserving arthropod biodiversity in Canadian forests. D. Langor, J.E.H. Hammond, G.R. Pohl

 

 

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