scholarly journals Efficacy of Insecticide Aerial Spraying Programs to Reduce Tree Mortality During a Spruce Budworm Outbreak (1967‒1992) in the Quebec Province.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alvaro Fuentealba ◽  
Alain Dupont ◽  
Roberto Quezada-Garcia ◽  
Éric Bauce
Keyword(s):  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Choristoneura Fumiferana ◽  
Spruce Budworm ◽  
Balsam Fir ◽  
Stand Age ◽  
Similar Reduction ◽  
Forest Protection ◽  
Protection Goal ◽  
Aerial Spraying ◽  
Stand Characteristics

Abstract Spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana) is the most important pest of conifer forests in Eastern North America. The main approach to protect Quebec forests against this defoliator is aerial spraying of insecticides. Despite the crucial role of aerial spraying of insecticides in the global forest protection strategy, little is known about its real impact on tree mortality reduction or the stand characteristics that may affect its long-term efficacy. We evaluate the efficacy of the protection program implemented between 1967 and 1992 in reducing tree mortality during the previous outbreak in Quebec and how its efficacy is affected by stand characteristics such as drainage quality and stand age. We established 422 plots in Eastern Quebec based on the following parameters: insecticide application (0-13 years), stand composition, drainage quality, and stand age at the beginning of the previous outbreak. Our results show that unprotected plots exhibited in average between 18 and 32.6% higher mortality than protected plots. Insecticide efficacy was affected by drainage quality. For example, protected plots established on sites with bad drainage quality exhibited 49% less balsam fir mortality than unprotected plots. Furthermore, immature and mature protected stands exhibited a similar reduction in balsam fir mortality (32.2 and 32.1% less mortality respectively) compare to unprotected stands. Our results may be useful for decision-makers not only to decide where and when apply insecticides during a spruce budworm outbreak but also, they may help to determine the pertinence of continuous protection during longer than usual outbreaks depending on protection goal.

Effects of Spruce Budworm Outbreaks on the Productivity and Stability of Balsam Fir Forests

1984 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 273-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. MacLean
Keyword(s):  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Choristoneura Fumiferana ◽  
Spruce Budworm ◽  
Balsam Fir ◽  
Wood Production ◽  
Ecological Stability ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Feasible Method ◽  
Human Usage

Effects of spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.)) outbreaks on the productivity and stability of forests in eastern Canada are reviewed and discussed. Defoliation results in reduced growth of trees, widespread tree mortality, and loss of wood production, and thereby causes major forest management problems. At present, the only feasible method for limiting damage and losses from budworm outbreaks over large areas is to apply chemical or biological insecticides periodically to kill larvae and protect the forest from defoliation and tree mortality. Although budworm outbreaks definitely disrupt the wood-producing capacity of forests (or the short-term "stability of forests for human usage"), in terms of overall ecological stability, outbreaks apparently act as a cycling mechanism that allows advance fir-spruce regeneration to succeed the fir-spruce overstory.

Estimating forest vulnerability to the next spruce budworm outbreak: will past silvicultural efforts pay dividends?

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 314-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume B. Sainte-Marie ◽  
Daniel D. Kneeshaw ◽  
David A. MacLean ◽  
Chris R. Hennigar
Keyword(s):  
Choristoneura Fumiferana ◽  
Abies Balsamea ◽  
Spruce Budworm ◽  
Balsam Fir ◽  
Stand Age ◽  
Disturbance History ◽  
Timber Supply ◽  
Silvicultural Treatments ◽  
Combined Use ◽  
Intensively Managed

Silvicultural treatments recommended to reduce damage by spruce budworm (SBW; Choristoneura fumiferana Clemens) include reducing balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) abundance and age and increasing spruce (Picea spp.) and hardwood content. To evaluate the effect of these measures on forest timber supply, we assessed stand characteristics, disturbance history, and timber supply for an intensively managed eastern Quebec forest from 1985 to 2004, encompassing a major SBW outbreak. During this time, mean stand age declined from 55 to 51 years, and proportions of areas in balsam fir stands declined (42% to 27%), spruce–fir stabilized (12% to 11%), and mixedwoods increased (32% to 52%). We estimated forest vulnerability using softwood volume reductions following simulated outbreak scenarios of different severity (low, moderate, and high) and different effects of hardwood content in reducing spruce–fir defoliation. Volume reductions for outbreaks simulated to begin in either 1985 or 2004 were similar, ranging from 15%–46% (no hardwood effect in reducing defoliation) to 13%–39% (given a maximum hardwood content effect) for light and severe outbreaks, respectively. Considering the net detrimental effect of increased hardwood content on softwood timber supply, we question the dividends of promoting hardwoods and recommend increasing the combined use of plantations and weeding treatments to increase spruce content.

scholarly journals Forest management strategies to reduce spruce budworm damage in the Fundy Model Forest

1996 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 399-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. MacLean
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Decision Support System ◽  
Support System ◽  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Choristoneura Fumiferana ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Spruce Budworm ◽  
Stand Age ◽  
Timber Supply

Spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana) outbreaks cannot be prevented, but the amount of damage that occurs can be managed. Tree species, stand age, hardwood content, and drainage class, as well as the outbreak severity and length, determine the amount of tree mortality during budworm outbreaks. Silviculture and forest management can be used to reduce the incidence of the most damaged stand types across the landscape. The amount of defoliation in mixed balsam fir-hardwood stands is strongly negatively related to hardwood content, especially with hardwoods > 40%. The Spruce Budworm Decision Support System (DSS) links models of stand and forest response to budworm outbreaks and inventory interpretation to a GIS, and can be used to evaluate effects of outbreaks and management on forest structure and timber supply. An example using the Spruce Budworm DSS for a portion of the Fundy Model Forest indicated that losses from a future budworm outbreak could be reduced 34% by directing harvesting and silviculture towards conversion of one-half of the most vulnerable stand types into low susceptibility or non-susceptible species. Key words: decision support system, vulnerability, silviculture, insect damage

scholarly journals FUNGOUS DETERIORATION OF BALSAM FIR KILLED BY SPRUCE BUDWORM IN NORTHWESTERN NEW BRUNSWICK

1964 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 482-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Stillwell ◽  
D. J. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
New Brunswick ◽  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Choristoneura Fumiferana ◽  
Abies Balsamea ◽  
Spruce Budworm ◽  
Balsam Fir ◽  
Dead Trees ◽  
One Year ◽  
Different Parts ◽  
Heavy Mortality

The rate of fungous deterioration was determined for 292 balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) killed by the spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.) in an area of heavy tree mortality in northern New Brunswick. Trees dead less than one year and up to seven years were examined. Fifty fir trees dead 0 to 2 years in a light mortality area were also examined. Trees in the heavy mortality area deteriorated much more slowly than those examined by other workers in Ontario. Stereum chailletii (Pers.) Fr. and S. sanguinolentum (Alb. & Schw. ex Fr.) Fr. caused most of the incipient and advanced decay in New Brunswick, whereas S. chailletii caused all the incipient decay in trees dead less than one year in Ontario but was replaced after one year by Polyporus abietinus Dicks, ex Fr. which then caused most of the advanced decay. Advanced decay progressed faster in trees in the light mortality area in New Brunswick than in trees in the heavy mortality area. Nineteen species of basidiomycetes were associated with sapwood decay. Comments concerning the position and frequency of fungous occurrence in the different parts of the tree in relation to the number of years since death are made for eight of the more commonly isolated fungi. The introduction of S. chailletii into living trees by woodwasps and the differences observed in the development of P. abietinus in dead trees in the two regions are discussed.

Effects of 1956 Spring and Summer Temperatures on Spruce Budworm Populations (Choristoneura fumiferana Clem.) in the Gaspé Peninsula

1958 ◽  
Vol 90 (6) ◽  
pp. 354-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Blais
Keyword(s):  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Choristoneura Fumiferana ◽  
Spruce Budworm ◽  
Summer Temperatures ◽  
Aerial Spraying ◽  
Gaspe Peninsula ◽  
Gaspé Peninsula

In 1956, the spruce budworm infestation which had been in progress in the Lower St. Lawrence and Gaspe Peninsula for about eight years, covered the whole territory from the Rimouski River to the eastern tip of the Peninsula (Fig. 1). In many localities throughout the region repeated defoliation had been severe enough to cause some trees to die (3) . Had it not been for the extensive aerial spraying operations practised in this region since 1954, tree mortality would undoubtedly have been even more widespread.

Stand-level prediction of balsam fir mortality in relation to spruce budworm defoliation

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 1631-1640 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Pothier ◽  
Daniel Mailly
Keyword(s):  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Choristoneura Fumiferana ◽  
Abies Balsamea ◽  
Spruce Budworm ◽  
Balsam Fir ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Prediction Horizon ◽  
Permanent Sample Plot ◽  
Canadian Boreal Forest

Stand production and sustained yield calculations are largely affected by tree mortality, which can be caused by many factors such as competition, insect damage, or climatic events. In the eastern Canadian boreal forest, spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.)) defoliation can produce varying levels of mortality in balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) stands. This mortality was estimated for the entire range of balsam fir in Quebec, Canada, using historical records of insect defoliation and permanent sample plot (PSP) inventories for the 1970–2003 period, which includes the last insect outbreak. A two-step approach was used to model balsam fir mortality at the stand level. The first step predicts the probability that all balsam fir trees within a PSP will survive during a given time interval. The second step quantifies the amount of mortality for PSP observation periods during which mortality actually occurred. The whole model shows that spruce budworm defoliation may account for between 6% and 100% of the merchantable volume lost due to mortality, depending on outbreak severity. A model evaluation made with an independent data set indicates that the model is unbiased, although the prediction error is relatively large at the stand level but decreases with increasing prediction horizon.

Les forêts de la Côte Nord au Québec sont-elles sujettes aux déprédations par la tordeuse?

1983 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Robert Blais
Keyword(s):  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Growth Ring ◽  
Choristoneura Fumiferana ◽  
Spruce Budworm ◽  
Balsam Fir ◽  
North Shore ◽  
The North ◽  
River Region ◽  
Saguenay River ◽  
The Impact

Quebec's North Shore is a vast region comprising about one third of productive forests in the province. The impact of the spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.)) in this remote region was not welt known. In the summer of 1981, ground and aerial surveys were conducted to determine the extent to which fir stands had been affected during the current bud-worm outbreak. It was possible to confirm that defoliation had been severe for several successive years prior to 1978, and that since then, insect populations had diminished considerably. Available information on balsam fir mortality indicated only two areas: one in Saguenay River region in the extreme southwest of the study area, and the other in the vicinity of Baie Comeau. The 1981 surveys revealed that varying quantities of fir had succumbed to budworm attack in many stands occurring for hundreds of kilometers east of Baie Comeau. The spruce budworm maintained high populations sufficiently long to cause pockets of tree mortality over a widespread area on the North Shore. Growth-ring measurements on several old balsam fir and white spruce trees from many localities indicated that no other widespread budworm outbreak had occurred on the North Shore since the end of the nineteenth century.

Comparing growth and mortality of a spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana) inspired harvest versus a spruce budworm outbreak

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (11) ◽  
pp. 2176-2192 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Eiry Spence ◽  
David A. MacLean
Keyword(s):  
Picea Glauca ◽  
Choristoneura Fumiferana ◽  
Abies Balsamea ◽  
Stand Density ◽  
Natural Disturbance ◽  
Spruce Budworm ◽  
Immediate Release ◽  
Balsam Fir ◽  
White Birch ◽  
Similar Reduction

Many current forest management regimes stress emulation of natural disturbance events, e.g., spruce budworm (SBW; Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens)) outbreaks in a balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) dominated forest, as the preferred method for ensuring sustainability of forest ecosystems. This study compared a SBW-inspired harvest treatment in 25 plots in northern New Brunswick with an uncontrolled SBW outbreak in 30 plots in the Cape Breton Highlands, Nova Scotia. Stand-level measurements before, during, and after each disturbance indicated similar reduction of living stand volume (70% reduction in emulation harvest versus 83% in SBW outbreak), mortality patterns, and lengths of disturbance (4 years of >10% mortality by density of predisturbance stand). Differences for the harvest treatment included higher cumulative postdisturbance blowdown (43% versus 8% of postdisturbance stand density), conversion to hardwood-dominated stands immediately after the disturbance, and faster growth response (immediate release of all species in the harvest treatment versus decreased balsam fir and white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss) growth and increased white birch (Betula papyrifera Marshall) growth in the SBW outbreak). There were significant differences in stand dynamics following the two disturbances. Results suggest that instead of emulating SBW disturbances, forest managers should be inspired by the spatial and temporal characteristics of SBW-defoliated stands and use significant key features of them to design harvest plans that satisfy management goals.

PATHOGENICITY OF A GRANULOVIRUS TOWARDS CHORISTONEURA FUMIFERANA (LEPIDOPTERA: TORTRICIDAE)

1999 ◽  
Vol 131 (6) ◽  
pp. 725-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
André J. Forté ◽  
Claude Guertin ◽  
Jean Cabana
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
Bacillus Thuringiensis ◽  
North America ◽  
Picea Glauca ◽  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Choristoneura Fumiferana ◽  
Spruce Budworm ◽  
Balsam Fir ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Biological Control Agents

The spruce budworm Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.) is the most damaging insect of the balsam fir Abies balsema (L.) Mill. (Pinaceae) and the white spruce Picea glauca (Moench) Voss (Pinaceae) throughout eastern North America. In outbreak conditions, close to 100% tree mortality can occur in untreated mature fir stands (MacLean 1980). Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Bacillaceae) is currently used to reduce spruce budworm damage (Van Frankenhuyzen and Payne 1993). Other possible biological control agents, such as baculoviruses, are also investigated to complement the use of B. thuringiensis. Baculoviruses are advantageous because they occur naturally in several insect species and are generally host specific (Federici 1993).

Weather and Outbreaks of the Spruce Budworm in the Province of Quebec from 1939 to 1956

1961 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. G. Pilon ◽  
J. R. Blais
Keyword(s):  
Choristoneura Fumiferana ◽  
Abies Balsamea ◽  
Spruce Budworm ◽  
Balsam Fir ◽  
The Past ◽  
Forest Regions ◽  
Tree Component ◽  
Gaspe Peninsula ◽  
Gaspé Peninsula

Nearly all forest regions in the Province of Quebec where balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) is an important tree component have been subjected to severe defoliation by the spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.), during the past 20 years. These outbreaks have followed an easterly direction beginning near the Ontario-Quebec border in 1939 and ending in the Gaspé Peninsula in 1958.

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