• Great Lakes Forest Research centre and Insect Pathology Research Institute Sault St, Marie, Ontario
  Canadian Forestry Service, Department of the Environment.
  

Ecologists can attempt to regulate numbers of insects in two basic ways. first, they can use the insect's environment to keep its numbers low by managing its food supply (the forest) so as to avoid (a) too many food trees in one area, (b) too many trees of a similar age which would then be prey to the same insect, or (c) over mature and, therefore, less healthy trees. Control of the physical surroundings is not yet possible. Second, they can manage the insect population directly or indirectly, using biological controls such as the insect's natural regulators (predators or disease regularly occurring in its environment) or introduced regulators (found by experiment). If these are not feasible, chemical control of insect populations may be used. And so the purpose of this symposium was to expose attendees to some of the alternatives in the control of insect populations in the forest ecosystem.