In previous studies of WSB outbreak cycles, strong periodic components of ∼30 and 40 years over centuries have been documented using Single Spectrum Analysis (Ryerson et al.,

2003, Campbell et al., 2006 and Alfaro et al., 2014), and are similar to periods found by Swetnam and Lynch (1993). In eastern Canada, eastern spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.)) populations have oscillated more or less periodically over two centuries with an average period INK 128 datasheet of 35 years ( Royama, 1984). In this study, a continuous Morlet wavelet transform of the sub-regional chronologies revealed strong modes of variability ranging from 16 to 64-year cycles ( Fig. 6), which is consistent with other studies. The beginning of the Galunisertib mouse outbreak chronologies, early-1600s to mid-1700s, was characterized by the high frequency 16-year pattern suggesting that WSB outbreak occurred with greater frequency during the 15–16th centuries

( Fig. 6). The lower-frequency 32-year period became more evident after the late-1700s, which is coherent with the analysis of the return intervals of WSB outbreaks ( Table 5) and coincides to the period when cooler and wetter conditions were associated with regionally synchronous WSB outbreaks ( Fig. 5 and Fig. 6). In all of the sub-regional chronologies this low-frequency 32-year period became prominent after the mid-1850s suggesting that WSB outbreaks became more temporally stable after this time ( Fig. 6). Widespread outbreaks across the study area ( Fig. 5), and outbreak

periodicities with an average of 32-years ( Fig. 6) supports previous research that climate may have a synchronizing influence on outbreak dynamics at larger spatial scales ( Royama, 1984, Williams and Liebhold, 2000, Peltonen et al., 2002 and Jardon Montelukast Sodium et al., 2003). However, more detailed analysis of a variety of climatic parameters is required to corroborate this in our study area. Multi-century reconstructions of WSB outbreaks in the Cariboo Forest Region of British Columbia describe their cyclic population dynamics and demonstrate the long standing presence of WSB in this area. WSB outbreaks have occurred throughout the entire 400-year record at the stand to the regional level, with outbreaks lasting from 14 to 18 years not uncommon. Perhaps most importantly, this study demonstrates that outbreaks observed over the last 40 years in this region are not unprecedented and offers no support for the perception that the WSB has been expanding northward into the Cariboo Forest Region. Numerous WSB outbreaks documented in this study are synchronous with large-scale events recorded in the southern interior of BC and in the northwestern US states. Large-scale budworm outbreaks at this spatial scale are likely affected by global processes (e.g., climate), while processes endogenous to the budworm/host relationship (e.g., bud burst phenology) are likely responsible for local variability in timing and intensity of outbreaks.