Natural Resources Canada
www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca
Our insectarium has 441m² (4745ft²) of space equipped with 4 climate-controlled rearing rooms, 10 reach-in environmental chambers, 2 walk-in cold rooms, multiple work rooms with 7 biological safety cabinets, and a facility for making artificial diets. We also have storage rooms located outside of the facility. Although our insectarium is located within the Great Lakes Forestry Centre, it is physically isolated from research facilities to maintain the health of our colonies. Strictly controlled access procedures for materials and personnel ensure that pathogens do not enter our insect colonies. Additional precautions include the use of biological safety cabinets or laminar flow hoods for conducting all insect handling operations, isolation of insect species in dedicated rearing rooms or chambers, and operation of air filtration equipment in every room within the facility. To maintain the integrity of our rearing operations, environmental control equipment is connected to back-up generators, conditions are monitored and tracked automatically, and redundant alarm systems have been established to contact personnel before environmental deviations become serious.