Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods)

Volume 26 No. 1, Spring 2007


 

Project Update:
Pending publications


Hugh Danks
Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods), Canadian Museum of Nature,
P.O. Box 3443, Station D, Ottawa, ON K1P 6P4
hdanks@mus-nature.ca

General information and editorial notes

News and Notes:

Bio-Blitz 2007

Activities at the Entomological Societies' meeting

Head of Biological Survey to retire

Summary of the Scientific Committee meeting

Project Update: Pending publications

Web site notes

Dubious awards: Sashes and such

The Quiz Page

Canadian Perspectives: Life-cycle Types in the Arctic

Arctic Corner

From the canoe to the microscope: arctic mayflies and stoneflies

New book on arctic stoneflies

Selected future conferences

Quips and Quotes

List of Requests for Material or Information

 

Most of the scientific projects of the Biological Survey produce publications of various sorts to help develop the projects and to deliver the results of the work. Publications from a number of initiatives are currently in preparation, and these are outlined here.

Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands
The book “Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands: Ecology and Interactions in Grassland Habitats” provides an overview of grassland regions in Canada, with syntheses of arthropod assemblages in select habitats and their ecological roles, and is currently being edited. All component chapters have been received and a synthetic concluding chapter is being prepared. The volume will go to press in 2007.

List of contents

  • Introduction
  • Alperyn, M.A. and R.E. Roughley. Community ecology of predaceous diving beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) in boreal and prairie ponds across southern Manitoba.
  • Behan-Pelletier, V.M. and D. Kanashiro. Acari in grassland soils of Canada.
  • Boucher, S. and T.A. Wheeler. Trophic structure of the Brachycera (Diptera) assemblage in xeric grasslands of the southern Yukon Territory.
  • Floate, K.D. Galling arthropods associated with the hybrid complex of Populus (Salicaceae) on the prairies.
  • Hamilton, KG.A. and R.F. Whitcomb. Leafhoppers (Insecta: Homoptera: Cicadellidae) as indicators of grassland habitats.
  • McGinn, S.M. Weather and climate patterns in Canadian grasslands.
  • Paiero, S.M., S.A. Marshall, P.D. Pratt and M. Buck. The insects of a southern Ontario tallgrass prairie.
  • Roughley, R.E., D.A. Pollock and D.J. Wade. Tallgrass prairie, ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and the use of fire as a biodiversity and conservation management tool.
  • Scudder, G.G.E. Grasslands: biodiversity hotspots for some arthropods in British Columbia.
  • Scudder, G.G.E., M.A. Alperyn and R.E. Roughley. The aquatic Hemiptera of prairie grasslands and peatlands.
  • Shorthouse, J.D. Attributes of the grasslands of Canada.
  • Shorthouse, J.D. The community of arthropods associated with cynipid galls on wild roses in Canadian grasslands.
  • 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.
  • Synthesis

The second volume in this series is tentatively entitled “Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands: Arthropods and Altered Grassland Ecosystems” (edited by K.D. Floate; invitations to authors will be sent this spring). This volume will emphasize arthropods in grassland habitats altered by agricultural activity and livestock production. Chapters will summarize arthropod communities in agroecosystems, and describe the ecological roles of the most significant members in these communities.

“Biodiversity of Arthropods in Canadian Grasslands” (under development led by F.A.H. Sperling and J.M. Cumming) will have a greater taxonomic focus. It will include extensive species’ checklists and faunistic analyses of select arthropod groups.

 

Arthropods of Canadian forests
Chapters derived from invited papers at a BSC symposium on “Maintaining arthropods in northern forest ecosystems” held at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the ESC/ and ESAlberta in Canmore have been edited by D.W. Langor and J.R. Spence and assembled for an issue of the Canadian Entomologist. Most papers have been reviewed and it is hoped that they will be submitted to the journal by the end of April.

List of contents

  • Langor, D.W., J.R. Spence, J.E.H. Hammond, J. Jacobs, and T. Cobb. Maintaining saproxylic insects in managed forests.
  • Pohl, G., D.W. Langor, J. Klimaszewski, and T.T. Work. Rove beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) in northern forests.
  • Richardson, J. Aquatic arthropods and large-scale land-use effects in temperate North America.
  • Shorthouse, D.P. and C. Buddle. Deciphering a complex web: the structure and dynamics of spider assemblages in disturbance-driven boreal forests.
  • Spence, J.R., D.W. Langor, W.J.A. Volney and J. Jacobs. Unthreatening forest arthropods: simultaneous management of ‘beezillions’ of small and heterogenous risks.
  • Summerville, K. and T.O. Crist. Structure and conservation of lepidopteran communities in managed forests of northeastern North America: a review.
  • Work, T. and J.R. Spence, D.W. Langor, M. Koivula and J. Sweeney. Using core species assemblages and rare carabid taxa to evaluate forest change in Canada.

Abstracts of these papers can be seen at http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/english/forestsymposium.htm

 

Arthropods and fire
Building on a core of papers based on presentations at a BSC symposium at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the ESC and ESAlberta in Canmore, a set of papers is being developed, edited by C.M. Buddle, for submission to the Journal of Insect Conservation.

Provisional list of contents

  • Cobb, T., D.W. Langor, J.R. Spence and I.D. Phillips Pyrophilous arthropods and post-fire salvage harvesting: the ecological implications of an economic reality.
  • Hawkes, B. Documenting fire characteristics: what is important in understanding fire and insect interactions?
  • Roughley, R.E. Beetles, fire and tallgrass prairie.
  • Saint-Germain, M., C.M. Buddle and P. Drapeau Pyrophily in boreal insects: Do wildfires really contribute at maintaining higher populations?
  • Scudder, G.G.E. Recovery of the arthropod fauna in an Antelope-brush community following destruction by fire.

 

Invasive species
A broadly based symposium, sponsored by the CFS and the BSC and organized by D.W. Langor and J. Sweeney, entitled “Ecological Impacts of Non-Native Insects and Fungi on Terrestrial Ecosystems”was held at the 2006 joint Annual Meeting of the ESC and SEQ in Montreal. Invited symposium papers, with a small number of additional titles, are being edited by Dr. Langor and Dr. Sweeney for publication in a special issue of the journal Biological Invasions. Submission of peer-reviewed, edited papers is due to the journal 1 October 2007. In addition to the papers listed below a synthesis wrap-up paper will be included. There are also plans to print some copies of the special issue in hardcover.

Provisional list of contents

  • Addison, J.A. Impacts of invasive earthworms on Canadian forest ecosystems.
  • Callan, B. and D. Rioux. Ecological impacts of Phytopthora ramorum in Canadian forests.
  • Dosdall, L.M. Ecological and economic impacts of the invasion of western Canada by the cabbage seedpod weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).
  • Langor, D. and L. DeHaas. Diversity of non-native terrestrial arthropods in Canada.
  • Liebhold, A. Ecological impact of invasive insects on forest ecosystems.
  • Loo, J. Ecological impact of invasive fungi on forest ecosystems.
  • McCorquodale, D. The legacy of lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae): the unintended effects of (un)intentional introductions.
  • Rossman, A. Ecological impacts of invasive fungi in agricultural ecosystems.
  • Olfert, O. and Elliott, R. Ecological of invasive insects on agricultural ecosystems - Wheat Midge Case Study.
  • Parry, D. Does the Pandora’s Box paradigm apply to parasitoids in classic biological control?
  • Régnière, J. Modeling the spread and ecological impact of invasive species.
  • Simberloff, D. We can eliminate invasions or live with them! – high tech and low tech success stories.
  • Smith, S.M. and N. Rudzik. Impact of an introduced scolytid, Tomicus piniperda, on native scolytids and natural enemy complexes.
  • Spence, J.R. Invasive species under your nose and in your backyard: the secret wars of ground beetles.

 

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