Spruce budworm is the most destructive, native defoliating insect in eastern Canada. When budworm populations reach outbreak levels, significant ecological and economic damage occurs (see www.healthyforestpartnership.ca for more details). In New Brunswick, budworm populations are tracked through numerous surveys annually. In the fall, the budworm hatch from eggs, crawl to a secure location on the branches of trees and spin a small web to protect them from the winter elements. They will stay in this location, dormant, throughout the winter and into the spring of the following year before emerging to feed on the new needles of spruce and fir branches.This life stage is known as the second larval stage or “L2” for short, and it is an ideal time to sample populations. The survey is significant task, and members of the Forest Health section are aided by regional GNB staff and forestry industry cooperators in collecting the nearly 2000 sample locations across the province. The branches from this survey are taken to Forest Health lab in Fredericton where they go through a “wash” that separates the tiny budworm from the branches. Their numbers are then counted and used to develop maps of spruce budworm populations.These populations are used by the Healthy Forest Partnership research program to develop early intervention strategies to avoid to impacts of outbreak populations./La tordeuse des bourgeons de l’épinette est l’insecte défoliant indigène le plus destructeur de l’est du Canada. Lorsque les populations de TBE atteignent un niveau d’infestation, on observe d’importants dommages sur le plan écologique et économique (voir http:

Spruce budworm is the most destructive, native defoliating insect in eastern Canada. When budworm populations reach outbreak levels, significant ecological and economic damage occurs (see www.healthyforestpartnership.ca for more details). In New Brunswick, budworm populations are tracked through numerous surveys annually. In the fall, the budworm hatch from eggs, crawl to a secure location on the branches of trees and spin a small web to protect them from the winter elements. They will stay in this location, dormant, throughout the winter and into the spring of the following year before emerging to feed on the new needles of spruce and fir branches.This life stage is known as the second larval stage or “L2” for short, and it is an ideal time to sample populations. The survey is significant task, and members of the Forest Health section are aided by regional GNB staff and forestry industry cooperators in collecting the nearly 2000 sample locations across the province. The branches from this survey are taken to Forest Health lab in Fredericton where they go through a “wash” that separates the tiny budworm from the branches. Their numbers are then counted and used to develop maps of spruce budworm populations.These populations are used by the Healthy Forest Partnership research program to develop early intervention strategies to avoid to impacts of outbreak populations./La tordeuse des bourgeons de l’épinette est l’insecte défoliant indigène le plus destructeur de l’est du Canada. Lorsque les populations de TBE atteignent un niveau d’infestation, on observe d’importants dommages sur le plan écologique et économique (voir http:

The Forest Health Section currently monitors for two insects using pheromone traps. Pheromones are the chemical signal insects created by the insect for communication. Pheromones are used for numerous types of communication. In some species they are used to call other insects together (e.g. aggregation), in some they are used to repel others (e.g. anti-aggregation), in most insects these chemical signals are very specific and unique. Scientists have been able to identify and reproduce these chemicals in many species, allowing us to monitor species presence/absences and relative abundance in pest management. For both a) spruce budworm b) hemlock looper the sex pheromone is emitted by the female to attract male moths. The Province places traps containing pheromone lures for both throughout the province. At the end of the season, the number of moths found in the traps give an indication of population trends for that season. These result support additional monitoring efforts such as the SBW fall population forecast. The pheromone traps are useful tools, but they only provide a partial picture on populations because in the case of both spruce budworm and hemlock looper the pheromone attract the male moths only. Each marker on the spruce budworm map represents three traps hung in a 40m spacing array, the value posted is the average of the three traps counted.