Carbon sequestration consequences of spruce budworm outbreaks and control in eastern Canadian forests**

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Forests play an important role in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in soil - thus**countering the tendency for atmospheric carbon dioxide to warm our climate. We will ask how outbreaks of**spruce budworm, a major forest pest that defoliates and kills conifers over millions of hectares, alter this**process. In defoliated forests, dead needles and budworm feces likely provide a short-term boost in carbon**flow to soils. However, in the longer term, defoliated forests are less able to remove carbon dioxide from the**atmosphere, and the thinner tree canopy means warmer soils and therefore, potentially, more release of stored**carbon from the soil. We will study these effects and their interactions by comparing forest plots that have**been defoliated by budworm with similar, nearby plots that have been protected from budworm damage by**aerial spray with a biological insecticide, Btk. We will measure the fall of needles and caterpillar feces from**the canopy to the ground, measure carbon content in soil cores, and measure the emission of carbon dioxide**from microbes in the soil. We will also measure the abundance of "mycorrhizal" fungi - fungi that form**partnerships with tree roots and which receive carbon-containing sugars from the tree and move them into soil.**Together, these measurements will help us understand how budworm outbreaks change the carbon cycle in**forests, and how we can use Btk treatments to intervene to protect the carbon-storage role of the forest. This**research will involve both established scientists and students in training from the University of New**Brunswick, the Canadian Forest Service, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.