The International Pest Risk Mapping Workgroup is pleased to announce the release of its latest product, Pest Risk Modeling and Mapping for Invasive Alien Species. The text features 15 chapters which describe useful techniques for the spatial characterization of pest risk. In 2010, IPRMW identified the need for more formal training in the practice of pest risk mapping. This book begins to address that need. The text was published in March 2015 by CAB International (Wallingford, UK & Boston, MA). A PDF of the table of contents can be accessed here.
You can purchase the book from CAB International or Amazon.
In September 2013, articles from work presented at the group’s Sixth Annual Workshop in Tromsö, Norway were published in a special issue of the journal NeoBiota, edited by Darren Kriticos and Rob Venette.
The articles can be accessed here.
In May 2010, members of the IPRMW, led by Rob Venette, published an article in the journal BioScience entitled “Pest Risk Maps for Invasive Alien Species: A Roadmap for Improvement.”
Abstract. Pest risk maps are powerful visual communication tools to describe where invasive alien species might arrive, establish, spread, or cause harmful impacts. These maps inform strategic and tactical pest management decisions, such as potential restrictions on international trade or the design of pest surveys and domestic quarantines. Diverse methods are available to create pest risk maps, and can potentially yield different depictions of risk for the same species. Inherent uncertainties about the biology of the invader, future climate conditions, and species interactions further complicate map interpretation. If multiple maps are available, risk managers must choose how to incorporate the various representations of risk into their decision-making process, and may make significant errors if they misunderstand what each map portrays. This article describes the need for pest risk maps, compares pest risk mapping methods, and recommends future research to improve such important decision-support tools.
A PDF copy of the article can be accessed here.
A press release written by Caroline Barnhill of North Carolina State University News Services can be accessed here.