Response of stream habitat and microbiomes to spruce budworm defoliation: New considerations for outbreak management
Abstract
Defoliation by eastern spruce budworm is one of the most important natural disturbances in Canadian boreal and hemi‐boreal forests with annual area affected surpassing that of fire and harvest combined, and its impacts are projected to increase in frequency, severity, and range under future climate scenarios. Deciding on an active management strategy to control outbreaks and minimize broader economic, ecological, and social impacts is becoming increasingly important. These strategies differ in the degree to which defoliation is suppressed, but little is known about the downstream consequences of defoliation and, thus, the implications of management. Given the disproportionate role of headwater streams and their microbiomes on net riverine productivity across forested landscapes, we investigated the effects of defoliation by spruce budworm on headwater stream habitat and microbiome structure and …
abstract: “Defoliation by eastern spruce budworm is one of the most important natural disturbances in Canadian boreal and hemi‐boreal forests with annual area affected surpassing that of fire and harvest combined, and its impacts are projected to increase in frequency, severity, and range under future climate scenarios. Deciding on an active management strategy to control outbreaks and minimize broader economic, ecological, and social impacts is becoming increasingly important. These strategies differ in the degree to which defoliation is suppressed, but little is known about the downstream consequences of defoliation and, thus, the implications of management. Given the disproportionate role of headwater streams and their microbiomes on net riverine productivity across forested landscapes, we investigated the effects of defoliation by spruce budworm on headwater stream habitat and microbiome structure and …” authors:
- M_McCaig
- Karen A Kidd
- E_Smenderovac
- Brittany G Perrotta
- C_Emilson
- Michael Stastny
- L_Venier
- E_Emilson featured: false projects: [] publication: ‘Ecological applications: a publication of the Ecological Society of America …’ publication_short: '' publication_types:
- “2” date: ‘2024-12-01T00:00:00Z’ publishDate: ‘2024-09-24’ title: ‘Response of stream habitat and microbiomes to spruce budworm defoliation: New considerations for outbreak management’ url_pdf: “https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/eap.3020" url_source: “https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/eap.3020"
Emily Smenderovac
Watershed Ecologist
Trained in microbial ecology and bioinformatic analysis of community datasets.
Caroline Emilson
Forest Ecologist and Bioinformatician
Ecologist specializing in environmental genomics and microbial ecology.
Lisa Venier
Research Scientist
I research biota (large and small) as indicators of sustaniable forest management
Erik J.S. Emilson
Research Scientist, Watershed Ecology Team Lead, Associate Editor CJFR
I am interested in how forests support freshwater ecosystem services. My research combines microbial and molecular approaches to undertand how forest productivity and disturbances affect ecosystem functions in headwater streams and lakes.