Canadian Forest Service Publications

Optimizing surveillance strategies for early detection of invasive alien species. 2019. Yemshanov, D.; Haight, R.G.; Koch, F.H.; Venette, R.C.; Swystun, T.; Fournier, R.E.; Marcotte, M.; Chen, Y.; Turgeon, J.J. Ecological Economics 162: 87 - 99.

Year: 2019

Issued by: Great Lakes Forestry Centre

Catalog ID: 39815

Language: English

Availability: PDF (request by e-mail)

Available from the Journal's Web site.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.04.030

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Plain Language Summary

Surveillance programs to detect alien invasive pests seek to find them as soon as possible, but also to minimize the cost of damage from invasion. To examine the trade-offs between these objectives, we developed an economic model that allocates survey sites to minimize either the expected mitigation costs or the expected time until first detection of an invasive alien pest subject to a budget constraint on surveillance costs. We also examined strategies preferred by ambiguity-averse decision makers that minimize the expected and worst-case outcomes of each performance measure. We applied the model to the problem of detecting Asian longhorned beetle in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, one of the most harmful invasive alien insects in North America.