Spruce Budworm L2 Mapping

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: