Evaluating conservation value and insect biodiversity within the Ya'nienhonhndeh territory of the Huron-Wendat Nation

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The Ya'nienhonhndeh region is among the last intact forest in Quebec and has never been commercially logged. This region, located on the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat Nation, thus serves as a critical ecological benchmark for monitoring larger effects of the transition to more intensely managed forests as well changes in disturbance regimes such as outbreaks of defoliating insects like the spruce budworm. The Ya'nienhonhndeh region may also harbor biodiversity and critical habitats that have been shaped by centuries of natural disturbance dynamics. In this collaboration with the Bureau de Nionwentsïo and the Canadian Forest Service, we will compare differences in species assemblages of forest insects in stands the have regenerated following 1) severe spruce budworm damage with extensive mortality, 2) lighter spruce budworm damage where many large diameter, legacy trees remain and 3) stands which have regenerated from clearcutting which surround the Ya'nienhonhndeh. We will focus specifically on two insect groups: generalist parasitoids which attack defoliating insects and saproxylic insects that are linked to ecological legacies such as large diameter deadwood. We will sample these insects using multiple trapping techniques including flight intercept traps, malaise-type traps, sticky cards and emergence traps placed over existing deadwood. All specimens will be identified to species and will be compared using both generalized linear mixed models and multivariate regression trees. We hypothesize that species richness will be greatest in stands with lighter budworm damage related to the combined presence of legacy habitats and an influx of relatively fresh deadwood from standing trees. We anticipate the severely damaged stands will harbor fewer saproxylic insects in part due a lack of fresh deadwood. We expect both stand types in the Ya'nienhonhndeh will have greater abundance and richness of both insect groups than stands regenerating from clearcuts. As exploitation of Canadian forests continues to expand and continued impacts from climate change accumulate, biodiversity comparisons within the Ya'nienhonhndeh will be a critical reference point for conservation and realistic forest management targets.