Publications The spruce aphid in western Europe: ecology, status, impacts and prospects for management

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Publications : AIR Cluster IX - Forestry : Wood (Lignocellulose)

The spruce aphid in western Europe: ecology, status, impacts and prospects for management Edited by Keith R. Day, Gudmundur Halldórsson, Susanne Harding and Nigel A. Straw Forestry Commission Technical Paper 24 (1998)

CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Carter, C.I. and Halldórsson, G. Origins and background to the green spruce aphid in Europe
Chapter 2: Straw, N.A., Halldórsson, G. and Benedikz T. Damage sustained by individual trees: empirical studies on the impact of the green spruce aphid
Chapter 3: Randle, T. and Ludlow, T. Growth costs to plantations: modelling the cumulative effect of defoliation by Elatobium abietinum
Chapter 4: Day, K.R. and Kidd, N.A.C. Green spruce aphid population dynamics: the effects of climate, weather and regulation
Chapter 5:Austarå, Ø., Carter, C., Eilenberg J., Halldórsson, G. and Harding, S. A conspectus of potential natural enemies found in association with the green spruce aphid in Northwest European spruce plantations
Chapter 6: Leather, S.R. and Kidd, N.A.C. The quantitative impact of natural enemies and the prospect for biological control
Chapter 7: Harding, S., Day, K.R. and Armour, H.L. Selecting for resistance in genetically defined Sitka spruce
Chapter 8: Watt, A. D., Flückiger, W., Leith, I.D. and Lindsay, E. Atmospheric pollution, elevated carbon dioxide and spruce aphids
Chapter 9: Day, K.R., Straw, N.A. and Harding, S. Prospects for sustainable management of forests to minimise the green spruce aphid problem in Europe

PREFACE

The intensification of the European forest industry has been relatively recent in the time-scale of forest growth, and many of the longer-term economic and environmental consequences of new developments are unknown. Above all, the European Union is challenged by the need to set in place an enlarged but sustainable development programme for its forests; a programme which delivers high quality forest products at low cost, and one which addresses fundamental questions of environmental sustainability. The challenge is particularly acute for Sitka spruce, an exotic species, and for some other spruces which are the mainstay of the forest development programme in a large part of the European Union. Sitka spruce is one of the predominant plantation species in north western maritime areas of the EC where it outperforms other species with a high timber yield (9-15 m³ ha^-1 yr^-1 stemwood). It is therefore already one of the most productive trees in Europe and progressive genetic gains are enhancing this reputation. However, it is a species with some major pest problems which demand environmentally sensitive management.

Tree-breeding programmes in Denmark and Great Britain have improved potential productivity of Sitka spruce but protection of these new genetically-defined trees needs careful consideration if widespread pest problems are to be avoided in future. The most ubiquitous and most generally debilitating pest of spruces in the maritime regions of western Europe is the green spruce aphid, Elatobium abietinum. The aphid partially defoliates but rarely kills spruce, and until recently the sub-lethal effect of large aphid populations on the growth and productivity of individual trees and of whole forests has been largely unknown. Coupled with this, the effects of silviculture and natural enemies on the green spruce aphid are also poorly understood. Are there ways in which the growth of aphid populations could be further constrained by natural enemies and can resistant trees be defined and given greater prominence in tree-breeding programmes ?

These questions, and others connected with the development and regulation of green spruce aphid pest problems in Europe, were the subject of a European Community Concerted Action funded in part by the EC Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry and Agro-Industry Specific Programme as project AIR3-CT94-1883. This volume is the product of a collaboration between forest research institutions in the four European states who participated in the Concerted Action, and a number of other contributors whose work is highly relevant to the project. It provides a comprehensive summary of current knowledge of the green spruce aphid as a pest of spruce and suggests what additional information is required to implement a pest management programme. It is the aim of this project, in due course, to provide foresters and forest managers with simple and practical options in the choice of plant material for forest development, and measures associated with its cultivation that will best protect it from the threat of aphid pest problems throughout the life of the crop.

This publication is available from: The Publications Department, Forest Research, Alice Holt Lodge, UK

European Forest Research Organisations may request a complimentary copy from Keith Day at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland. These are subject to availability.

Contacts

Editor

• University Of Ulster Environmental Research / UNITED KINGDOM

Publishers

• Peter Freer-Smith / Forest Research, Alice Holt Lodge UNITED KINGDOM