Canadian Forest Service Publications
Surveillance during monitoring phase of an eradication programme against Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky) guided by a spatial decision support system. 2017. Fournier, R.E.; Turgeon, J.J. Biological Invasions 19(10): 3013-3035.
Year: 2017
Issued by: Great Lakes Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 38813
Language: English
Availability: PDF (request by e-mail)
Available from the Journal's Web site. †
DOI: 10.1007/s10530-017-1505-2
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Abstract
In 2003, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) undertook an eradication programme against Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky), a phloem- and wood-boring cerambycid beetle from Asia discovered in Toronto and Vaughan, Ontario. The programme included a multi-year surveillance phase in a quarantine area. We developed a spatial decision support system (SDSS) to aid in effective and efficient allocation, tracking, forecasting, and reporting of these surveillance activities. We parameterised our SDSS with data collected by the CFIA during the treatment phase, and from existing policy, scientific and expert knowledge. The SDSS operated within a multi-loop adaptive management framework designed to foster four levels of organisational learning, analogous to the Data–Information–Knowledge–Wisdom hierarchy, to address uncertainty in founding parameters. Increasingly complex feedback was escalated to higher levels of programme management for review, and then integrated into the SDSS for future implementation. Numerous enhancements were approved and implemented during both the SDSS development and operation because of organisational learning fostered by the system. Two basic forms of learning methods were used: visual pattern recognition within graphical SDSS outputs, and hypothesis testing through re-evaluation of founding precepts and parameters. The system successfully guided surveillance until pest-free status was declared nine survey-cycles later, the first four leading to the discovery of small, residual beetle populations. We believe our system is flexible enough to successfully integrate different precepts and parameters, and be implemented as a best practice against this species or other organisms.
Plain Language Summary
The journal “Biological Invasions” publishes research and synthesis papers on patterns and processes of biological invasions in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. Also of interest are manuscripts on management and policy issues as they relate to conservation programs and the global amelioration or control of invasions. In 2003, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) undertook an eradication programme against the Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis), a phloem- and wood-boring beetle from Asia, soon after the discovery of a breeding population in Toronto and Vaughan, Ontario. A component of that eradication programme consisted of surveying trees within the entire quarantined area multiple times over several years. We developed a spatial decision support system (SDSS) to aid in effective and efficient allocation, tracking, forecasting, and reporting of these surveillance activities. We parameterised our SDSS with data collected by the CFIA during the treatment phase of their eradication programme, and from existing policy, scientific and expert knowledge. The SDSS was designed to foster organisational learning and to address uncertainty in the system’s founding parameters. As a result, numerous enhancements were approved and implemented during both the SDSS development and operation. Our system successfully guided surveillance until pest-free status was declared nine survey-cycles later; the first four leading to the discovery of small, residual beetle populations. We believe our system is flexible enough to successfully integrate different precepts and parameters, and be implemented as a best practice against this species or other organisms.
