The spruce budworm, one of many creatures produced at the laboratories. Photo: David G. Fellin1 and Jerald E. Dewey via Wikimedia Commons

Can you imagine spending all day working up close with insects? That’s what scientists do at the Insect Production and Quarantine Laboratories (IPQL). They research ways to stop insect pests, both native and invasive, which harm our ecosystems.

There are two zones in the laboratory. One zone is for producing new insects and studying their growth. The other zone is a quarantine that holds invasive pests. The IPQL is the only laboratory in North America that raises multiple species of forest insects, and the only one in the world that mass-produces spruce budworms.