Causes of outbreak of the larch caterpillar (Dendrolimus superans Butler) in Daxingan Mountain and its control strategy

Abstract

In 1991, in Daxingan Mountain, an outbreak of larch caterpillar (Dendrolimus superans Butler) happened on large areas of more than one million hectares, where stands of larch were seriously damaged because needles on the trees were almost eaten up by the pest, causing enormous economic losses. Analysis of data collected indicated that the main cause of the outbreak of larch caterpillar on large areas was that, after thirty years of exploitation, mature and overmature forests decreased rapidly, middle-aged and young forests incresed in large amount, significant changes occurred in individual ecological conditions of stands, especially those tended, with decreasing canopy density and better light condition in the forest, and all these were adventageous to the outbreak of the pest. In addition, in recent years, the climatic condition in Daxingan Mountain changed significantly. The yearly average temperature raised gradually and the soil surface temperature in April and October increased year by year, which were advantageous to the outbreak of larch caterpillars. In short, the significant changes in the ecological conditions in Daxingan Mountain provided suitable conditions for the outbreak of the larch caberpillar, and after several years of increase in population number, the larch caterpillar outbroke into a serious disaster on vast areas. In the paper, composite control strategy was also discussed.