Scientists of the Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences together with colleagues from the Siberian Federal University and the Siberian State University of Science and Technology. Academician M.F. Reshetnev, using satellite data, learned how to assess the degree of damage to dark coniferous forests after outbreaks of reproduction of the Siberian silkworm. The research work was carried out within the framework of one of the priority areas of activity of the Yenisei Siberia Research Center – global climate initiatives.
The caterpillars of the Siberian silkworm feed on the needles of trees and cause huge damage to forests. After outbreaks of silkworm reproduction, massive drying and death of trees occurs, which leads to the loss of valuable wood for industry, to environmental and economic damage due to a drop in income from logging, tourism and other forest-related activities.
“Periodic outbreaks of an increase in the number of Siberian silkworms are an urgent problem for many dark coniferous forests, especially for the taiga of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. This is the second destructive factor in terms of the scale of the negative impact on forests after forest fires. The results obtained by us can become the basis for further monitoring of disturbed territories and diagnostics of new areas of the dark coniferous taiga of Siberia that may be exposed to silkworms,” said Evgeny Ponomarev, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Senior Researcher at the V. N. Sukachev Institute of Forestry SB RAS.
Approaches based on methods of remote sensing of the Earth can become the basis for new methods of monitoring the state of forests and determining the resistance of various stands to damage from outbreaks of mass reproduction of the Siberian silkworm.