An Entomological Reconnaissance of Syncrude Lease #17 and its Environs

With up to 20,000 species of insects throughout Alberta the opportunities for entomological study are immense. An entomological reconnaissance study of the Syncrude Lease #17 area was required to gain preliminary data and to examine the potential of insects as biological monitors of environmental changes resulting from the Syncrude development. In 1974, a three week field reconnaissance study of terrestrial insects occurring on Syncrude Lease #17 and its environs, in the Athabasca Tar Sands of Northern Alberta, was carried out. Various sampling methods were employed in disturbed and undisturbed stands of different boreal forest tree types and in an area cleared of trees for mining purposes. The results obtained suggest that further study of certain insects may give an early indication of possible environmental damage. These insects are a dung beetle, Aphodius sp. (Scarabaeidae: Coleoptera), two species of March flies (Bibionidae : Diptera) and several species of ground beetles (Carabidae : Coleoptera). A future sampling plan can be based on the quantitative (soil sampling) data.