Mapping the climate niches of forest insects and diseases in Canada under current and future climate

By John Pedlar, Daniel McKenney & Glenn Lawrence
Nature
November 20, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, United States

Insects and diseases are important disturbance agents in Canadian forests and there is concern that their impacts will intensify under climate change. Here we report on an effort to model and map the climate niches of more than 4000 forest insect and fungus species in Canada – including high-profile pest species that are already, or may soon become, established in the country. This work employs occurrence data from historical, national-scale forest insect and disease surveys. …We further employ national forest inventory products (gridded maps) to summarize forest host volumes at risk of infestation by selected insect and disease species. …We demonstrate use of the products through examples, including brown spruce longhorn beetle, southern pine beetle, oak wilt, and map overlays that show hotspots for bark beetles under current and projected climate. We hope this tool will help pest managers to better understand how these species may respond to projected climate change.

Read More