The mountain pine beetle will continue to be under the UNBC microscope.
The Prince George university and four other partner universities (UBC, University of Alberta, Universit de Montral, and Universit Laval) got confirmation last week that special funding will be available to continue the science projects already underway to combat the infestation of bugs that continues to threaten North American boreal forests.
The new money - more than $4 million - comes from the the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The research already done was funded by Natural Resources Canada and forest industry private interests. The new grant will let the work continue for another five years for the research group known collectively as TRIA-Net.
"So far, the TRIA project has been able to sequence the genomes of the beetle, the tree, and the fungus that allows the insect to break down the tree's defenses. We have discovered many new aspects about the physiology of the organisms in the system," said UNBC professor Dr. Dezene Huber, a Canada Research Chair in Forest Entomology and Chemical Ecology.
He and fellow professor Dr. Brent Murray have been involved in mountain pine beetle research for the past five years.
"With TRIA-Net, we intend to look at how differences in a host tree's defenses affect pine beetle larvae survival over the deep cold of winter," Huber said.
Murray said, "This new funding will also allow us to train many new researchers at the graduate and postdoctoral levels, who will then be well-positioned to help advance Canada's forest industry."
While the five universities involved in TRIA-Net are each contributing knowledge and data to the mountain pine beetle issue, this region is ground zero for the epidemic and the studies.
"UNBC's involvement is [integral, particularly in] providing answers to how beetles contend with winter and other stressors that they encounter during their life cycle," said the network's director, Janice Cooke of the University of Alberta. "The ecosystems and communities in B.C.'s Central Interior have felt the impacts of the epidemic. Having grown up in Prince George, I have witnessed this with dismay. The research that will be conducted at UNBC will be important not only in combatting the current spread of mountain pine beetle into new regions, but also in addressing the next outbreak that arises in B.C.'s Central Interior."
The information the research network uncovers will, it is hoped, provide data and advice to industry, governments, and communities in time for them to take meaningful action.
