Grylloblatta campodeiformis campodeiformis Walker (Grylloblattodea: Grylloblattidae) was commonly collected during summer from trees killed by the mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in subalpine forests of Alberta, Canada. Gut content analysis revealed that the grylloblattids fed on subcortical invertebrates. This newly reported habitat association shows that this species is not limited to strictly alpine habitats and glacial margins, and thus may be more widespread and common than suggested by earlier reports.

Conservation of biodiversity is growing in interest, and wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate, so understanding how communities are assembled and how interactions among species and ecosystems influence evolution is critical to the management of threatened habitats. We compared diversity and assemblages of peatland Diptera within and between ecoregions in Québec, Canada. We then determined the phylogenetic structure of peatland Diptera communities and how the structure differed with spatial scale (trap, site, ecoregion). Finally, we tested alpha and beta diversity along environmental and spatial gradients to determine which processes influence Diptera communities and diversity. Bogs across the three ecoregions support similar abundance, species richness, and functional diversity. We found that the major forces structuring Diptera assemblages in bogs across Québec are stochastic processes such as dispersal limitations. However, those random patterns change to clustering when anthropogenic disturbances modify the landscape. Assembly rules are mostly dictated by patch and landscape parameters specific to each ecoregion affecting dispersal and establishment between sites. Conservation of mobile organisms in habitats such as bogs will depend on conservation plans focusing on both patch quality and surrounding landscape, and that different conservation strategies need to be applied in different ecoregions.

Integration of pollinator-dependent invasive plants into native pollination networks can have direct and indirect effects on local plant and pollinator communities. Impacts on local plants are well documented; however effects on native pollinators have gained less attention. We examine these issues in habitat fragments of the endangered oak-savannah ecosystem in British Columbia, Canada. We measured pollen collection by native bumble bees (Bombus Latreille; Hymenoptera: Apidae) and the introduced honey bee (Apis mellifera Linnaeus; Hymenoptera: Apidae) foraging on two common native plants in habitat fragments with varying invasive (Cytisus scoparius (Linnaeus) Link; Fabaceae) density. The Bombus species with the largest workers had higher proportions of invasive pollen on their bodies and in their corbiculae than smaller workers. Honey bees rarely collected C. scoparius pollen. While some native bumble bees species collect an increasing proportion of C. scoparius pollen with increasing C. scoparius density, this did not translate into an increased potential for pollination. Rather, measures of effective pollination decline with C. scoparius density. Overall, our results suggest that some bee species may be better at finding resources at highly invaded sites. Apis mellifera is likely not playing a major role in facilitating the spread of C. scoparius in our region. Rather C. scoparius is visited by a complement of native bumble bees that are similar to pollinators in the native range of this plant.

Biological control plays an important role in many integrated pest management programmes, but can be disrupted by other control strategies, including chemical and cultural controls. In commercial cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton; Ericaceae) production, a spring flood can replace an insecticide application, providing an opportunity to study the compatibility of the flood (a cultural control) with biological control. We suspect that chemical controls will tend to reduce the number of natural enemies, while the flood, through removal of detritus and detritivores, may cause generalist predators to prey-switch to consume proportionally more pest individuals. We measured the abundance of herbivores (Lepidoptera), detritivores, Arachnida, and parasitoids (Hymenoptera) every week for six weeks in Wisconsin (United States of America) cranberry beds following either an insecticide spray or a cultural control flood. We found that detritivore populations rapidly declined in both flood and spray treatments; conversely, carnivore populations (spiders and parasitoids) were more abundant in the flooded beds than in sprayed beds. Populations of key cranberry pests were similar between flooded and sprayed beds. Our results showed that early-season flooding preserved more natural enemies than an insecticide application. This increase in natural enemy abundance after the flood may allow for greater continuity in herbivore suppression, potentially providing a basis for long-term cranberry pest management.

The Dakota skipper, Hesperia dacotae (Skinner, 1911) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae), is an at-risk butterfly that inhabits mesic mixed-grass prairie. Loss of native prairie is the main factor driving declines in Dakota skipper abundance. Currently, there is little knowledge on the environmental and habitat requirements of Saskatchewan, Canada populations. Our objective was to determine environmental associations of Dakota skipper in Saskatchewan through landscape, vegetation, soil, climate, microclimate, and Hesperiidae butterfly occupancy. Data collection was conducted in 2015 and 2016; a total of 46 sites were surveyed; nine of these were Dakota skipper positive (i.e., present) sites and 37 were negative (i.e., non-detected) sites. Results indicate that plant composition is not a significant predictor of Dakota skipper presence, but three plant species are significantly associated with the species; Pediomelum argophyllum (Pursh) Grimes (Fabaceae), Zizia aptera (Gray) Fernald (Apiaceae), and Schizachyrium scoparium (Michaux) Nash (Poaceae). No soil or climate variables were significant predictors of Dakota skipper presence; however it is significantly associated with steep slopes. Warmer maximum and average ground-level temperatures are also associated with Dakota skipper presence. Findings indicate that additional Dakota skipper populations are likely in Saskatchewan and future targeted surveys will allow for a full evaluation of the distribution of this species and conservation status.

The Biological Survey of Canada initiated a project in 1979 to collect and synthesise information on the native arthropod fauna of the vanishing grassland habitats of Canada. At that time, it was thought that the Canadian arthropod fauna might comprise about 66 000 species. Recent studies suggest that the fauna may exceed 100 000 species, of which >25% may occur in the Prairies Ecozone. Results of this near 40-year project have been published in four volumes of the Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands monograph series of the Biological Survey of Canada. Here, the editors of this series review the grasslands project of the Biological Survey of Canada, summarise the contents of the volumes, and discuss current knowledge on the diversity of the grasslands arthropods of Canada. Whereas information on the species richness of some groups in the Prairies Ecozone is largely complete, information on the diversity of many other groups remains sparse. Reviewing the steps between initiation and publication of the Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands series may aid development of similar projects elsewhere. Identifying knowledge gaps will direct future research efforts. Identifying the diversity of grassland arthropods, their distribution and abundance, and the ecosystem services that they provide will facilitate efforts to conserve the remaining grassland habitats in Canada.