Cargando…

Coupled Human-Environment Dynamics of Forest Pest Spread and Control in a Multi-Patch, Stochastic Setting

BACKGROUND: The transportation of camp firewood infested by non-native forest pests such as Asian long-horned beetle (ALB) and emerald ash borer (EAB) has severe impacts on North American forests. Once invasive forest pests are established, it can be difficult to eradicate them. Hence, preventing th...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ali, Qasim, Bauch, Chris T., Anand, Madhur
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4592071/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26430902
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0139353
_version_ 1782393159611842560
author Ali, Qasim
Bauch, Chris T.
Anand, Madhur
author_facet Ali, Qasim
Bauch, Chris T.
Anand, Madhur
author_sort Ali, Qasim
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The transportation of camp firewood infested by non-native forest pests such as Asian long-horned beetle (ALB) and emerald ash borer (EAB) has severe impacts on North American forests. Once invasive forest pests are established, it can be difficult to eradicate them. Hence, preventing the long-distance transport of firewood by individuals is crucial. METHODS: Here we develop a stochastic simulation model that captures the interaction between forest pest infestations and human decisions regarding firewood transportation. The population of trees is distributed across 10 patches (parks) comprising a “low volume” partition of 5 patches that experience a low volume of park visitors, and a “high volume” partition of 5 patches experiencing a high visitor volume. The infestation spreads within a patch—and also between patches—according to the probability of between-patch firewood transportation. Individuals decide to transport firewood or buy it locally based on the costs of locally purchased versus transported firewood, social norms, social learning, and level of concern for observed infestations. RESULTS: We find that the average time until a patch becomes infested depends nonlinearly on many model parameters. In particular, modest increases in the tree removal rate, modest increases in public concern for infestation, and modest decreases in the cost of locally purchased firewood, relative to baseline (current) values, cause very large increases in the average time until a patch becomes infested due to firewood transport from other patches, thereby better preventing long-distance spread. Patches that experience lower visitor volumes benefit more from firewood movement restrictions than patches that experience higher visitor volumes. Also, cross–patch infestations not only seed new infestations, they can also worsen existing infestations to a surprising extent: long-term infestations are more intense in the high volume patches than the low volume patches, even when infestation is already endemic everywhere. CONCLUSIONS: The success of efforts to prevent long-distance spread of forest pests may depend sensitively on the interaction between outbreak dynamics and human social processes, with similar levels of effort producing very different outcomes depending on where the coupled human and natural system exists in parameter space. Further development of such modeling approaches through better empirical validation should yield more precise recommendations for ways to optimally prevent the long-distance spread of invasive forest pests.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4592071
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2015
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-45920712015-10-09 Coupled Human-Environment Dynamics of Forest Pest Spread and Control in a Multi-Patch, Stochastic Setting Ali, Qasim Bauch, Chris T. Anand, Madhur PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: The transportation of camp firewood infested by non-native forest pests such as Asian long-horned beetle (ALB) and emerald ash borer (EAB) has severe impacts on North American forests. Once invasive forest pests are established, it can be difficult to eradicate them. Hence, preventing the long-distance transport of firewood by individuals is crucial. METHODS: Here we develop a stochastic simulation model that captures the interaction between forest pest infestations and human decisions regarding firewood transportation. The population of trees is distributed across 10 patches (parks) comprising a “low volume” partition of 5 patches that experience a low volume of park visitors, and a “high volume” partition of 5 patches experiencing a high visitor volume. The infestation spreads within a patch—and also between patches—according to the probability of between-patch firewood transportation. Individuals decide to transport firewood or buy it locally based on the costs of locally purchased versus transported firewood, social norms, social learning, and level of concern for observed infestations. RESULTS: We find that the average time until a patch becomes infested depends nonlinearly on many model parameters. In particular, modest increases in the tree removal rate, modest increases in public concern for infestation, and modest decreases in the cost of locally purchased firewood, relative to baseline (current) values, cause very large increases in the average time until a patch becomes infested due to firewood transport from other patches, thereby better preventing long-distance spread. Patches that experience lower visitor volumes benefit more from firewood movement restrictions than patches that experience higher visitor volumes. Also, cross–patch infestations not only seed new infestations, they can also worsen existing infestations to a surprising extent: long-term infestations are more intense in the high volume patches than the low volume patches, even when infestation is already endemic everywhere. CONCLUSIONS: The success of efforts to prevent long-distance spread of forest pests may depend sensitively on the interaction between outbreak dynamics and human social processes, with similar levels of effort producing very different outcomes depending on where the coupled human and natural system exists in parameter space. Further development of such modeling approaches through better empirical validation should yield more precise recommendations for ways to optimally prevent the long-distance spread of invasive forest pests. Public Library of Science 2015-10-02 /pmc/articles/PMC4592071/ /pubmed/26430902 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0139353 Text en © 2015 Ali et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Ali, Qasim
Bauch, Chris T.
Anand, Madhur
Coupled Human-Environment Dynamics of Forest Pest Spread and Control in a Multi-Patch, Stochastic Setting
title Coupled Human-Environment Dynamics of Forest Pest Spread and Control in a Multi-Patch, Stochastic Setting
title_full Coupled Human-Environment Dynamics of Forest Pest Spread and Control in a Multi-Patch, Stochastic Setting
title_fullStr Coupled Human-Environment Dynamics of Forest Pest Spread and Control in a Multi-Patch, Stochastic Setting
title_full_unstemmed Coupled Human-Environment Dynamics of Forest Pest Spread and Control in a Multi-Patch, Stochastic Setting
title_short Coupled Human-Environment Dynamics of Forest Pest Spread and Control in a Multi-Patch, Stochastic Setting
title_sort coupled human-environment dynamics of forest pest spread and control in a multi-patch, stochastic setting
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4592071/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26430902
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0139353
work_keys_str_mv AT aliqasim coupledhumanenvironmentdynamicsofforestpestspreadandcontrolinamultipatchstochasticsetting
AT bauchchrist coupledhumanenvironmentdynamicsofforestpestspreadandcontrolinamultipatchstochasticsetting
AT anandmadhur coupledhumanenvironmentdynamicsofforestpestspreadandcontrolinamultipatchstochasticsetting