Haastattelu: Radio CBC Canada Quebec
Media Report
IUFRO Meeting on Population Dynamics and Integrated Management of Forest Insects
Reporters: Victoria Emanuelle, CBC Radio, Quebec City
The reporter interviewed me and a research scientist, Paivi Lyytikainen-Saarenmaa, from Helsinki, Finland, and asked us what the conference was about? What are some of the current issues affecting forests and forest insect pests? What are the benefits of these conferences?
The conference is on the topic of population dynamics of forest insects and ways or mitigating their impact on forests. Population dynamics is the study of population fluctuations over time and space and the factors that affect those fluctuations.
A lot of the discussions at this meeting have been on pests of Canada and Europe that cause widespread tree mortality and growth loss, like the spruce budworm, European spruce back beetle, and the emerald ash borer. Climate change has also been discussed a lot, as changes in climate can have big effects on pest outbreaks. An example is increased frequency and intensity of wind disturbances that cause trees to be blown over or weakened – that often results in outbreaks of bark beetles that switch from attacking only weakened trees when beetle populations are low, to attacking healthy trees when beetle populations are high.
The benefit of international conferences is meeting fellow scientists face to face to discuss respective problems, share ideas, and find areas where we can collaborate on common problems and solutions.