Canadian Forest Service

About: Canadian Forest Service is a government organization based out in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Taiga. The organization has 794 authors who have published 1259 publications receiving 63889 citations. The organization is also known as: CFS.

KAIROMONAL RESPONSE BY FOUR Monochamus SPECIES (COLEOPTERA: CERAMBYCIDAE) TO BARK BEETLE PHEROMONES

Abstract: We investigated the hypothesis that wood-boring beetles in the genus Monochamus (Cerambycidae) utilize pheromones of sympatric bark beetles as host-finding kairomones. All nine bark beetle pheromones tested electrophysiologically were antenally active for both sexes of M. scutellatus, M. clamator, and M. obtusus from British Columbia. When field-tested with multiple-funnel traps (British Columbia) or cross-vane traps (Ontario), a blend composed of frontalin, ipsdienol, ipsenol, and MCH, in combination with a blend of host volatiles attracted significant numbers of M. clamator, M. obtusus, M. notatus, and M. scutellatus to baited traps. Traps baited with host volatiles in combination with a second blend composed of endo-brevicomin, exo-brevicomin, cis-verbenol, trans-verbenol, and verbenone caught no more beetles than unbaited traps or traps baited with the host blend alone. In British Columbia, traps baited with the first blend alone or both blends together captured more M. scutellatus and M. clamator than unbaited traps, demonstrating a response to bark beetle pheromones in the absence of host volatiles. These results suggest that Monochamus spp. are minimizing foraging costs by using the pheromones of sympatric bark beetles as kairomones.

Relative importance of fuel management, ignition management and weather for area burned: evidence from five landscape–fire–succession models

Abstract: The behaviour of five landscape fire models (CAFE, FIRESCAPE, LAMOS(HS), LANDSUM and SEM- LAND) was compared in a standardised modelling experiment. The importance of fuel management approach, fuel management effort, ignition management effort and weather in determining variation in area burned and number of edge pixels burned (a measure of potential impact on assets adjacent to fire-prone landscapes) was quantified for a standardised modelling landscape. Importance was measured as the proportion of variation in area or edge pixels burned explained by each factor and all interactions among them. Weather and ignition management were consistently more important for explaining variation in area burned than fuel management approach and effort, which were found to be statistically unimportant. For the number of edge pixels burned, weather and ignition management were generally more important than fuel management approach and effort. Increased ignition management effort resulted in decreased area burned in all models and decreased number of edge pixels burned in three models. The findings demonstrate that year-to-year variation in weather and the success of ignition management consistently prevail over the effects of fuel management on area burned in a range of modelled ecosystems.

Modeling the Likelihood of Crown Fire Occurrence in Conifer Forest Stands

Abstract: The unknowns in wildland fire phenomenology lead to a simplified empirical model approach for predicting the onset of crown fires in live coniferous forests on level terrain. Model parameterization is based on a data set (n 71) generated from conducting outdoor experimental fires covering a significant portion of the spectrum of burning condi- tions associated with the initiation of crown fires. A logistic model is developed to predict the likelihood of crown fire occurrence based on three fire environment variables, namely the 10-m open wind speed, fuel strata gap (equivalent to live crown base height in some stands), estimated moisture content of fine dead fuels, and one fire-behavior descriptor—surface fuel consumption. The model correctly predicts 85% of the cases in the data set used in its development, and the receiver operating characteristic statistic is 0.94. The model is evalu- ated for its sensitivity to its inputs, and its behavior is compared with other models used in decision support systems to operationally predict crown fire initiation. The results of a limited test of the model against two independent experimental fire data sets for distinctly different fuel complexes is encouraging. FOR .S CI. 50(5):640-658.

Evidence for a male-produced pheromone in Tetropium fuscum (F.) and Tetropium cinnamopterum (Kirby) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

Abstract: (E)-6,10-dimethyl-5,9-undecadien-2-ol (geranyl acetol), termed here fuscol, was identified as a male-produced pheromone emitted by Tetropium fuscum (F.) and Tetropium cinnamopterum Kirby. In field experiments, traps baited with synthetic fuscol alone were not significantly attractive, but the combination of fuscol plus host volatiles (a synthetic blend of monoterpenes plus ethanol) attracted significantly more male and female T. fuscum and female T. cinnamopterum than did host volatiles alone. This is the first homoterpenoid alcohol to be described in the Cerambycidae, and the first pheromone reported from the sub-family Spondylidinae.