Helping Save the Cedar Forests from a vicious Pest

Professor Nasri Kawar

An AUB-led team of scientists has succeeded in deciphering the causes behind the outbreak of a cedar needle-eating sawfly, Cephalcia tannourinensis, which had threatened to wipe out the cedar forests of Lebanon. The sawfly first attacks cedar spring buds and then chews on them, leaving them a burnt reddish-brown.

After several years of study, the AUB team determined the pest outbreak was caused by changes in soil humidity and temperature. "This was a direct result of climatic changes and global warming," said AUB plant sciences professor Nabil Nemr, the assistant director of the project. AUB scientists Nasri S. Kawar and Nabil Nemr had been involved in studying Cephalcia tannourinensis in collaboration with a technical expert from Europe since it first appeared toward the end of 1997.

As scientists started studying the pest, the Tannourine-Hadath el-Jebbeh cedar forest was subjected to aerial spraying with a biopesticide, which enabled the scientists to identify the sex pheromones of this particular species of Cephalcia, which is only found in Lebanon and would help them disrupt the sawfly's reproductive cycle, thus controlling future outbreaks.

Funded by the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations Environment Program, the $1.2-million project was implemented by the American University of Beirut in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and was completed at the end of 2007. Its main aim was to identify the cause of the pest outbreak, improve the management of the biodiversity of the cedar forests, and protect them from serious insect pests.

The project also funded four graduate scholarships, covering full tuition fees for students majoring in forest entomology and ecology. The students were selected on the basis of academic achievement and interest in the subject.

A series of workshops that were conducted targeted primarily the rural sector at Tannourine. The purpose of the workshops was to train various groups in the local community in activities that would lead to financial benefits, such as preparing traditional foods for selling to visitors of the reserve.

The project publications that resulted were diverse: more than ten scientific publications were realized and included a DVD, three booklets, two brochures, fifteen bird cards, four posters, and a website for the Tannourine Cedar Forest Nature Reserve (www.arztannourine.org). More than 20,000 copies of the outreach publications were printed.