Scientists use sex hormone to stop destructive beetle in Halifax

Scientists in Halifax believe they may have come up with a way to control the spread of the brown spruce longhorn beetle – by using the insect’s own scent against them.

Scientists hope the voracious insects will be stopped in their tracks by tiny white flakes they scattered last week from a helicopter over four different plots of woods infested with the brown spruce long-horn beetle-infested areas in the Halifax Regional Municipality, Jon Sweeney of the Canadian Forest Service said Thursday.

The bio-degradable flakes are laced with a pheronome or scent from the male beetle, the research scientist said, and it attracts other beetles looking to mate. The flakes have been scattered in three areas around Sandy Lake, and one in the Juniper Lake area near Burnside

"They look like little chunks of broken-up white spaghetti to me," Sweeney said.

Pheromones are chemical compounds emitted by insects and other animals that influence the behaviour of other animals of the same species, he said.

"There’s so much of the pheromone out there, they get used to it. They can’t smell it. So, that’s one idea of how it works," Sweeney said. "The other is…less sex happens and you suppress the population."

The voracious insect has infected large tracts of forest in and around Halifax since arriving in the municipality, most likely in wood packing material unloaded at the Port of Halifax adjacent to Point Pleasant Park.

Canadian Forest Service scientists first identified the insect in 1999 in Point Pleasant Park. It has since been discovered in six counties in central Nova Scotia. This is the only known infestation in North America, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency website.

Sweeney and his team carried out a similar experiment last year with mixed results. But, he said, this time the team started earlier in the breeding season.

Scientists also hope the experiment will work this time, Sweeney said, because a similar approach has worked in controlling the spread of another pest, the gypsy moth.

But even if this experiment is a success, he said, it could be several years before a product is ready for the market.