Spotlight on the Great Lakes Forestry Centre
By Jessica Portelli-Ward
February 2011
The Great Lakes Forestry Centre (GLFC), one of Natural Resources Canada’s (NRCan) six Canadian Forest Service (CFS) establishments, has been a landmark in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, for more than 50 years. Today, the GLFC is home to more than 175 employees, including world-class scientists whose research covers many specialized features of our forests. Three aspects of these features are highlighted here.
- forest fire, insect pests and climate change;
- economic analysis;
- geospatial modeling ;
- biodiversity of forests;
- forest productivity;
- forest soil and water processes;
- forest biotechnology
Aquatic Insects
A well-known forest insect, the dreaded black fly, plays an important role in the environment. Dave Kreutzweiser, an aquatic ecotoxicologist with the GLFC’s Ecosystem Impacts Research team, notes: “When in their larval stage in streams and rivers, black flies recycle important nutrients in the water that contribute to the food chain for other organisms.” They do this by filtering out and feeding on tiny food particles in the water that would otherwise just be swept away. Once this food is digested, the black flies in turn leave behind larger particles of high-quality food that feed other stream bottom feeders, forming an important link in the food chain.
Birds
With its distinctive song and colourful markings, the Northern Parula warbler is a familiar migrant bird that breeds in eastern North American forests from southern Manitoba across to northern New Brunswick and as far south as Texas and central Florida. When it comes to choosing a breeding site, this bird knows exactly what it wants, says Ken McIlwrick, a forest ecosystem biologist with the GLFC. “The Northern Parula is very specific about where it chooses to nest and is drawn to forest habitats containing tree mosses such as Old Man’s Beard in the north and Spanish Moss in the south.”
Once the female has selected a suitable hanging clump of moss, she hollows out a nest and lightly lines it with animal hair and other fine plant material. “This nest is often located close to a lake, pond or stream and can be found two to 45 metres off the ground,” adds Ken. In order for the Northern Parula to do well within its breeding range, it is important that adequate numbers of tree moss-supporting habitats are maintained in the forest environment.
Natural Products Research
Forest tent caterpillars have long been known to prefer other types of maple trees over the red maple. Preliminary studies by the team of Mamdouh Abou-Zaid, a natural products research chemist at GLFC, found no apparent differences among the various maples to explain this preference. But deeper investigation into the genetic makeup and chemical compounds of the trees revealed the mystery. It showed that red maples produce a naturally occurring agent that acts as a pesticide against the insects. Knowledge of the chemical composition of this natural pesticide and others is helping scientists find new ways to protect other tree species in Canada’s forests from invasive insects.
For more information, visit the Great Lakes Forestry Centre.
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