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The feasibility of risk assessment of a Siberian silk moth (Dendrolimus sibiricus Tschetv.) outbreak was analyzed by means of landscape and weather characteristics and tree condition parameters. Difficulties in detecting forest pest outbreaks (especially in Siberian conditions) are associated with the inability to conduct regular ground surveillance in taiga territories, which generally occupy more than 2 million km2. Our analysis of characteristics of Siberian silk moth outbreak zones under mountainous taiga conditions showed that it is possible to distinguish an altitudinal belt between 400 and 800 m above sea level where an outbreak develops and trees are damaged. It was found that to assess the resistance of forest stands to pest attacks, researchers can employ new parameters: namely, characteristics of a response of remote sensing variables to changes in land surface temperature. Using these parameters, it is possible to identify in advance (2–3 years before an outbreak) forest stands that are not resistant to the pest. Thus, field studies in difficult-to-access taiga forests are not needed to determine these parameters, and hence the task of monitoring outbreaks of forest insects is simplified substantially.

Three models of abundance dynamics for forest insects that depict the development of outbreak populations were analyzed. We studied populations of the Siberian silkmoth Dendrolimus sibiricus Tschetv. in Siberia and the Far East of Russia, as well as a population of the pine looper Bupalus piniarius L. in Thuringia, Germany. The first model (autoregression) characterizes the mechanism where current population density is dependent on population densities in previous k years. The second model considers an outbreak as analogous to a first-order phase transition in physical systems and characterizes the outbreak as a transition through a potential barrier from a low-density state to a high-density state. The third model treats an outbreak as an effect of stochastic resonance influenced by a cyclical factor such as solar activity and the “noise” of weather parameters. The discussion focuses on the prediction effectiveness of abundance dynamics and outbreak development for each model.

Insect population dynamics are closely related to ‘human’ ecological and economic environments, and a central focus of research is outbreaks. However, the lack of molecular-based investigations restricts our understanding of the intrinsic mechanisms responsible for insect outbreaks. In this context, the moth Dendrolimus punctatus Walker can serve as an ideal model species for insect population dynamics research because it undergoes periodic outbreaks. Here, high-throughput whole-transcriptome sequencing was performed using D. punctatus, sampled during latent and outbreak periods, to systemically explore the molecular basis of insect outbreaks and to identify the involved non-coding RNA (ncRNA) regulators, namely microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, and circular RNAs. Differentially expressed mRNAs of D. punctatus from different outbreak periods were involved in developmental, reproductive, immune, and chemosensory processes; results that were consistent with the physiological differences in D. punctatus during differing outbreak periods. Targets analysis of the non-coding RNAs indicated that long non-coding RNAs could be the primary ncRNA regulators of D. punctatus outbreaks, while circular RNAs mainly regulated synapses and cell junctions. The target genes of differentially expressed microRNAs mainly regulated the metabolic and reproductive pathways during the D. punctatus outbreaks. Developmental, multi-organismal, and reproductive processes, as well as biological adhesion, characterized the competing endogenous RNA network. Chemosensory and immune genes closely related to the outbreak of D. punctatus were further analyzed in detail: from their ncRNA regulators’ analysis, we deduce that both lncRNA and miRNA may play significant roles. This is the first report to examine the molecular basis of coding and non-coding RNAs’ roles in insect outbreaks. The results provide potential biomarkers for control targets in forest insect management, as well as fresh insights into underlying outbreak-related mechanisms, which could be used for improving insect control strategies in the future.

A model of forest insect population dynamics used to simulate of "forest-insect" interactions and for estimation of possible damages of forest stand by pests. This model represented a population as control system where the input variables characterized the influence of modifier (climatic) factors and the feedback loop describes the effect of regulatory factors (parasites, predators and population interactions). The technique of stress testing on the basis of population dynamics model proposed for assessment of the risks of forest stand damage and destruction after insect impact. The dangerous forest pest pine looper Bupalus piniarius L. considered as the object of analysis. Computer experiments were conducted to assess of outbreak risks with possible climate change in the territory of Central Siberia. Model experiments have shown that risk of insect impact on the forest is not increased significantly in condition of sufficiently moderate warming (not more than 4 °C in summer period). However, a stronger warming in the territory of Central Siberia, combined with a dry summer condition could cause a significant increase in the risk of pine looper outbreaks.

The first records of outbreaks of the Pine Spittle bug Ocoaxo assimilis Walker were recently identified from Puebla, Mexico, which promoted more than 2600 ha of forest foliar fall. Beyond the taxonomic and distribution information of this species, the basic traits of its biology remain unknown. This study aims to describe some biological aspects of O. assimilis, in a natural pine forest at Nicolás Bravo, Puebla (NB). Using morphological characteristics and a phylogenetic analysis of a fragment of cytochrome oxidase subunit I mtDNA (COI), immature instars with adults were studied; the instar number was determined by means of a multivariate analysis of 19 morphological characteristics of 121 specimens. The systematic sampling to evaluate the occurrence of nymphal specimens during a year, plus host selection experiments, allowed for determination of the abundance over time, voltism, and host preferences. Phylogenetic analysis of the COI supported that both nymphs and adults collected in NB correspond to O. assimilis. Principal coordinate analysis supported the existence of five nymphal stages. Field sampling and host selection experiments indicated that this species displays a single generation per year, is associated with the rainy season, and that specimens from the three first nymphal stages feed on roots of eight host species (one grass, four herbaceous species, one bush, and two trees). From the fourth instar, the insects feed on pine roots to complete their development, and when they are adults, they migrate to needles of young or mature pine stands of Pinus pseudostrobus to feed and reproduce.

The system of pheromone communication in insects-phyllophagous was considered in terms of its effectiveness as a communication system. A selected lepidopterous insect (Lepidoptera) was chosen for analysis of pheromone communication system. We analyzed data on 250 species of insects from three families – Lasiocampidae, Geometridae, Lymantriidae. Specificity of the chemical composition of the complex pheromones and pheromone component count was assessed for all of these females. Characteristics of complexes of insect pheromones and possible female strategies of behavior were modeled using the methods of information theory, utility theory and game theory. We estimated complementarity for various types of chemical compounds in pheromone composition. The uniqueness of the pheromone signal of separate species of Lepidoptera is achieved by using a multi-component pheromone. There are no hard links between existence or absence of individual components in multi-component pheromones. The model was proposed for explanation of regularities of pheromone composition. Nonmonotonic of relative frequency of insect species curve with different number of components can be explained in terms of a trade-off between increasing the efficiency of males seeking females of the same species with an increasing number of individual components and the complexity of the synthesis of pheromones multi-component pheromones. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to assess the validity of the model description. Possible mechanisms of pheromone signal amplification studied were associated with the aggregation of a large number of individuals in a limited area. If females in the process of attracting individuals of the opposite sex are aggregated, then the source of pheromones is not a private individual, but a group of females, and the intensity of the flow of the group of molecules is defined as the intensity of pheromone release pheromones individual animals and the number of females in the cluster. The analogy game-theoretic problem «Prisoner's dilemma» use for evaluating of the effectiveness of the group strategy to attract for the simplest case, which dealt with two players – the females capable of generating pheromone. The proposed approach allows evaluation of the reliability of the pheromone communication system in insects – phyllophagous.