Woodlot owners in P.E.I. collecting spruce bark beetles for science - CBC

FILE: Centaur-shaped robot helps fight wildfires CENTAUR AID: Founder and Creator of Satyress Robotics, Beau G., joins FOX Weather to share how the centaur-shaped robot will aid in wildfire response, as the machine is built for dangerous environments where humans cannot go. Fire beetles race toward wildfires. Ticks don’t survive them. When wildfires tore through north Spokane, Washington, early this year, something unexpected showed up in the ash: thousands of black fire beetles, drawn to the heat. These insects, part of the genus Melanophila, detect infrared radiation from forest fires with sensors on their bodies and are attracted to freshly burned wood, according to the U. S. Forest Service. They use recently scorched trees to lay their eggs. HALLOWEEN HAZARD: WILDLIFE OFFICIALS WARN SPOOKY SEASON DECORATIONS POSE A HIDDEN DANGER Black beetle on fire trail in the Blue Mountains after the bush fires. (Anna Fitzgerald / Getty Images)After the Spokane Complex fires, the beetles moved into burned neighborhoods and cleanup zones. Entomologists said they can arrive while crews are still working on the fire or in the days just after, sometimes by the thousands.