Abstract
Weed Biocontrol Monitoring: Bringing the Science into the 21st Century Track: Ecology and Conservation Author(s): Vanessa Carney, David Jurovich, Gerald Michels, Jr. Traditional monitoring of invasive weeds generally requires time consuming and labor-intensive methods for sufficient data collection. This often involves sampling along linear transects, a practice that is limited when trying to make inferences about a weed's patch dynamics and when assessing biocontrol efforts. GPS and GIS are tools that are rapidly becoming standard practice in weed and bioagents monitoring. During our nine-year biological control program against noxious weeds on federal and military lands, data collection techniques have evolved along with the availability of new GPS and GIS technologies. This presentation will contrast information typically obtained from traditional transect vegetation sampling methods against data collected and evaluated using GIS. Key weed population patterns that are readily apparent using the ArcGIS Geostatistical and Spatial Analyst extensions, such as infestation reduction, "hotspots", are generally unseen using traditional data collection techniques. Additionally, we'll discuss spatial trends in bioagent establishment interpolated from field counts. Vanessa Carney Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Entomology 2301 Experiment Station Road Bushland , TX 79012 US Phone: 806-354-5807 Fax: 806-354-5829 E-mail: VACarney@ag.tamu.edu David Jurovich Texas Agricultural Experiment Station 2301 Experiment Station Road Bushland 79012 US Phone: 719-660-5814 E-mail: davidj_1970@hotmail.com Gerald Michels, Jr. Texas Agricultural Experiment Station 2301 Experiment Station Road Bushland 79012 US Phone: 806-354-5806 E-mail: asychis@aol.com |
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