With up to 20,000 species of insects throughout Alberta the opportunities for entomological study are immense. An entomological reconnaissance study of the Syncrude Lease #17 area was required to gain preliminary data and to examine the potential of insects as biological monitors of environmental changes resulting from the Syncrude development. In 1974, a three week field reconnaissance study of terrestrial insects occurring on Syncrude Lease #17 and its environs, in the Athabasca Tar Sands of Northern Alberta, was carried out. Various sampling methods were employed in disturbed and undisturbed stands of different boreal forest tree types and in an area cleared of trees for mining purposes. The results obtained suggest that further study of certain insects may give an early indication of possible environmental damage. These insects are a dung beetle, Aphodius sp. (Scarabaeidae: Coleoptera), two species of March flies (Bibionidae : Diptera) and several species of ground beetles (Carabidae : Coleoptera). A future sampling plan can be based on the quantitative (soil sampling) data.
Related Resources
Invasion, Establishment, and Range Expansion of Two Parasitic Nematodes in the Canadian Arctic
Resource Date:
2013
South Bison Hill Soil Capping Research Synthesis
Resource Date:
2013
Organization
Defining Parasite Biodiversity at High Latitudes of North America: New Host and Geographic Records for Onchocerca Cervipedis (Nematoda: Onchocercidae) in Moose and Caribou
Resource Date:
October
2012
Caribou Encounters with Wolves Increase Near Roads and Trails: A Time-to-Event Approach
Resource Date:
July
2011
Was this helpful?
|