Six published sampling techniques, and six trapping and three monitoring techiques developed by the author, were tested in a southwestern Quebec insecticide-free apple orchard to determine a reliable trapping and/or monitoring technique for the plum curculio. / Adult captures in intercepting funnels were distributed, in time and space, according to the seasonal development and ecology of this insect. Females were found to oviposit, prior to fruit set, on mature Granny Smith apples attached at major branch junctions in standard McIntosh apple trees. Relationships between oviposition on these "monitoring" apples and "June" drop and harvest damage were found. Plum curculio damage was concentrated near potential over-wintering sites. / A superior Y-tube insect olfactometer was designed and used to test potential attractants for plum curculio. Two fungicides, benomyl and fenarimol, were found to have no effect on plum curculio during its summer soil phase.

Little research has been undertaken on malaria vectors in southern Central America, particularly in Panama, where a serious outbreak took place from 2001 to 2005. Here, I have confirmed the presence of fourteen Anopheles species, seven of which have the potential to transmit malaria in Panama. In addition, I collected An. darlingi for the first time in Panama, Darien, near the Colombian border. Sequence comparisons using the white gene confirmed the presence of the northern genotype, and a demographic analysis using the mtDNA COI gene indicated that An. darlingi has not been recently introduced from Colombia into eastern Panama. Three independent molecular markers (mtDNA COI, nDNA white, rDNA ITS2) supported the status of a single species of An. albimanus, and uncovered significant population structure across Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador. The genetic structure of An. albimanus appears to be related to Pleistocene contraction, geographic fragmentation and subsequent expansion. Therefore, An. albimanus is not at mutation - drift equilibrium regionally. This pattern of population expansion is similar to the one depicted for An. darlingi in Amazonia South America. Phylogenetic analyses using the COI and the ITS2 markers detected lineage divergence in An. punctimacula s.l. Seven clades were well supported and clearly differentiated from An. malefactor. In contrast, the Folmer COI region did not support this divergence, perhaps due to the unequal mutation rate across the COI gene. My findings have provided a more complete figure of the population history and taxonomic status of three important malaria vectors; this information will be valuable to better understand the epidemiology of malaria in the Neotropics, and it will contribute to the design of more efficient strategies of vector control. / Peu de recherches ont été effectuées sur les vecteurs de la malaria dans le sud de l'Amérique centrale, en particulier au Panama, où pourtant plusieurs épidémies ont eu lieu de 2001 à 2005. Dans cette présente étude, quatorze espèces d'Anopheles ont été inventoriés, dont sept qui ont le potentiel de transmettre la malaria au Panama. De plus, An. darlingi a été recueilli pour la première fois dans la région de Darien au Panama, près de la frontière colombienne. La comparaison des séquences du gène blanc a révélé la présence du génotype du nord, et l'analyse démographique utilisant le gène COI mtDNA a indiqué que la présence d'An. darlingi, à l'est du Panama, ne serait pas l'origine d'une migration récente en provenance de la Colombie. Trois marqueurs moléculaires indépendants (mtDNA COI, nDNA blanc, rDNA ITS2) supportent l'état d'une seule espèce d'An. albimanus, mais tout en ayant des distinctions significatifs entre les populations du Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombie et l'Équateur. La structure génétique d'An. albimanus semble être liée à la contraction du Pléistocène, à la fragmentation géographique et aux expansions ultérieures. Par conséquent, An. albimanus n'est pas en mutation - drift equilibrium regionally. Le modèle d'expansion de la population d'An. albimanus est semblable à celui représenté pour An. darlingi de l'Amazonie en Amérique du sud. L'analyse phylogénétique utilisant les marqueurs COI et ITS2 a détecté des lignées divergentes pour An. punctimacula s.l. Sept groupes ont bien été supportés et différenciées d'An. malefactor. Cependant, la région de Folmer COI ne support pas cette divergence, peut-être en raison d'un taux de mutation variable du gène COI. Cette étude établi un meilleur portrait de l'histoire des populations et du statut taxonomique de trois importants vecteurs de la malaria. Cette précieuse information sera utile pour mieux comprendre l'épidémiologie de$

Species diversity patterns of high elevation grassland Diptera (Brachycera) were assessed to determine the community structure, species turnover, and species abundance patterns along a latitudinal gradient. Fieldwork took place in May 2008 in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and June-July 2010 in the Rocky Mountains at sites in Colorado, Wyoming, and Alberta. Two spatial scales were used: sample area and site. There was a slight latitudinal turnover of species, with latitude, longitude, and elevation being the most strongly associated with species composition. All sites were significantly different except the two sites in Alberta. Close proximity and site similarity may be responsible for this. There were similarities between all sample areas except Colorado. These results are attributed to the Wyoming basin, possibly a considerable barrier to dispersal. Patterns were driven mostly by rare species. High beta-diversity was found between sites, even in patterns of common species. Species abundance patterns in both the Rockies and the Appalachians revealed that although ecologically diverse and broad generalist families were more reliably dominated by a few species, trophic guild may not always accurately predict dominance/evenness patterns. / La structure des communautés, le renouvellement et les patrons d'abondance des espèces de Diptera (Brachycera) ont été évalués le long de gradients latitudinaux dans les montagnes appalachiennes (Caroline du Nord) et les montagnes rocheuses (Colorado, Wyoming, Alberta). Deux échelles spatiales ont été utilisées dans chacune des montagnes: l'aire d'échantillonnage et le site. Il y avait un renouvellement des espèces, avec la latitude, la longitude et l'élévation étant les facteurs les plus fortement associés à la composition en espèces. Les communautés de chacun des sites étaient significativement différentes, excepté les deux sites de l'Alberta. La proximité et la similarité des sites étaient probablement responsables de cette différence. Les sites du Colorado étaient significativement différents des autres sites des Rocheuses, probablement à cause du bassin du Wyoming de faible altitude créant une barrière pour la dispersion des espèces retrouvées en haute altitude. Les patrons étaient en grande partie dirigés par les espèces rares. Une haute diversité-béta était retrouvée entre les sites, même chez les espèces communes. Les patrons d'abondance des espèces dans les Rocheuses et les Appalaches ont révélé que bien que les familles diverse écologiquement et les familles généralistes étaient dominées par quelques espèces, les groupes trophiques ne prédisent pas toujours avec précision les patrons de dominance/uniformité.

La Tordeuse du Pommier, Archips argyrospilus (Wik.), pullule périodiquement dans les pommeraies du Québec et cause alors des dégâts onéreux en détériorant les pousses et les fruits. Au cours d'une récente invasion, qui a débuté en 1956, des travaux de recherches ont été entrepris à la fois sur la biologie, l'écologie et la répression de ce ravageur. Ces recherches s'imposaient premiaèrement pour connaître le cycle évolutif et la biologie générale de l'insecte sous les conditions climatiques du Québec, études qui n'avaient jamais été entreprises auparavant et, deuxièmement pour connaître le comportement des populations naturelles en mesurant leurs fluctuations saisonnières et en essayant de déterminer les facteurs responsables de ces fluctuations. Ces connaissances dans leur ensemble s'avéraient fondamentales tant pour enrayer de façon méthodique les pullulations actuelles de l'insecte que pour essayer de prévoir et de prévenir les invasions futures. [...]

[...] With the growing use of commercial products formulated around insecticidal micro-organisms in both large scale field pest control and in experimental work, it is becoming more and more important to know what hosts are susceptible to those and how the mortality is produced. The possible eftects of these materials on complex ecosystems are still unknown. The commercially produced materials themselves should be evaluated both as to etfectiveness as control measures and action on different insect species. Studies have made it apparent that these materials may be different in their effectiveness from unprocessed laboratory grown cultures.[...]

Soil animals, of which micro-arthropods constitute a high proportion, do not merely play a subsidiary role in the formation of different humus forms, but a most decisive one (Kubigna, 1955). Among the micro-arthropods, collembola are believed to play an important role in the breakdown of litter and humus (Schaller, 1950). Poole (1959) suggests that the direct value of collembola as litter feeders is probably small, judging solely from their gut contents, but, on the other hand, they must play sorne part both chemical and physical, in the breakdown of humus. He further states that their numbers and activity suggest that they may be of considerable importance. Dunger (1956) and Fourman (1938) are also of the opinion that collembola participate in the decomposition of falling leaves. [...]

The genus Chorthippus in North America has been in a confused state for much of the past seventy years. The genus is typically Palaearctic, with many Old World species, and is represented in the Nearctic Region by what has, in more recent times, been listed as a single species. Hebard (1936) synonymized all specifie names which had been applied within this genus in North America, under the name of an European species. Subsequently this name was shown to be a nomen dubium, as the original description would not differentiate between two well known European species to which it could almost equally well be applied (see p.22 ). This created the necessity of establishing whether North American Chorthippus is conspecific with either of these European species, and if so, with which. [...]

Differences in egg colour among European sawfly species were known for many years, but no use of the information in basic taxonomic work was attempted, and there was little application in practical keys or identification tables. The egg colours of North American sawflies were unstudied, except for an occasional, casual reference to the colour in an individual species. The work reported in this thesis represents the first attempt to study sawfly egg pigmentation in an objective manner, and to apply the findings to taxonomic research, as well as to provide data for use in identification aids. The analytical methods were adapted from other fields, but it was necessary to carry out tests to make certain that confidence could be placed in the results, because the conditions in the present study were not identical to those in the work from which the methods were derived. [...]

Most people know the ceratopogonid midges as "no-see-ums" and "sandflies" and have encountered them while on a fishing trip or on a holiday to the seaside, countryside or to mountain regions. The annoyance they give from their bites invariably engenders an abrupt fall in morale and produces an instant strong desire to be elsewhere. As Kettle (1962) has put it, "one midge is an entomological curiosity, a thousand ean be hell!" The term "sandfly" is inappropriate for these insects as it leads to a confusion of the group with the true sandfly Phlebotomus (Psyohodidae) and certain blackflies (Simuliidae). [...]

It has long been considered that the best way to study certain physiological aspects of insects such as their nutrition and response to various host plants would be to develop aseptic synthetic diets. According to Friend (1958) such a diet should satisfy in its physical and chemical characteristics the insects requirements, be in an edible form, and contain the optimum amount of essential nutrients. [...]