Tracking the push towards extinction: combining dispersal and management data to monitor Asian longhorned beetle eradication in the U.S.

Introduction: Based on the threat posed by the Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis Motschulsky), many countries including the United States have adopted policies of eradication. The eradication of infestations that cover hundreds of square kilometers can require multiple visual surveys of millions of individual trees. At these scales, eradication may take several decades and span multiple beetle generations. During this period the infestation of new trees adds spatially-explicit risk to the landscape while surveys and the removal of infested trees reduce it. Methods: To track dynamic risk on the landscape we have developed the Asian Longhorned Beetle Hazard Management and Monitoring Tool. The geospatial tool combines data documenting; the locations, levels of infestation, and dates of detection of infested trees; the locations, methods, and timing of survey and host removal activities; and a reconstruction of beetle movement within the infested landscape to generate annual spatial estimates of infestation risk based on the combination of beetle dispersal and survey and host removal activities. Results: The analyses of three eradication programs highlight similar patterns in risk through time with risk peaking at the time infestations are detected and declining as management activities slow beetle spread and reduce risk through surveys. However, the results also highlight differences in risk reduction among the eradication programs associated with differences in beetle dispersal among infestations and the size of the infested landscape, highlighting the importance of applying local information to structure eradication programs. Discussion: The Asian Longhorned Beetle Hazard Management and Monitoring Tool provides a quantitative repeatable approach to tracking changes in infestation risk using local beetle behavior and management efforts. In addition to this, the tool may provide a structure to optimize eradication efforts by allowing managers to estimate expected risk reduction based on proposed survey and host removal strategies.

Description of an establishment event by the invasive Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) in a suburban landscape in the northeastern United States.

The establishment of non-native species is commonly described as occurring in three phases: arrival, establishment, and dispersal. Both arrival and dispersal by the Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis Motschulsky), a xylophagous Cerambycid native to China and the Korean peninsula, has been documented for multiple locations in both North America and Europe, however the transitional phase, establishment, is not well understood for this species due to the need to rapidly remove populations to prevent dispersal and assist eradication, and the evident variation in the behavior of populations. Here we describe the dynamics of an establishment event for the Asian longhorned beetle in a small, isolated population within the regulated quarantine zone near Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. These data were collected during an opportunity afforded by logistical limits on the Cooperative Asian Longhorned Beetle Eradication Program administered by state, federal, and local government partners. Seventy-one infested red maple (Acer rubrum) trees and 456 interspersed un-infested trees were surveyed in an isolated, recently established population within a ~0.29 ha stand in a suburban wetland conservation area in which nearly 90% of the trees were host species, and nearly 80% were Acer rubrum. Tree-ring analyses show that within this establishing population, Asian longhorned beetles initially infested one or two A. rubrum, before moving through the stand to infest additional A. rubrum based not on distance or direction, but on tree size, with infestation biased towards trees with larger trunk diameters. Survey data from the larger landscape suggest this population may have generated long-distance dispersers (~1400 m), and that these dispersal events occurred before the originally infested host trees were fully exploited by the beetle. The distribution and intensity of damage documented in this population suggest dispersal here may have been spatially more rapid and diffuse than in other documented infestations. Dispersal at these larger spatial scales also implies that when beetles move beyond the closed canopy of the stand, the direction of dispersal may be linked to prevailing winds.

Synthesizing evidence-based strategies and community-engaged research: a model to address social determinants of health.

Addressing social determinants of health (SDH) requires multileveled intervention designs. Increasingly, organizations and coalitions face pressure to use evidence-based strategies when seeking to address SDH. Evidence-based strategies, however, must be locally relevant and integrated into existing systems to function efficiently. We propose the incorporation of an effective rapid assessment technique, Rapid Assessment, Response, and Evaluation (RARE), with evidence-based strategies, findings, and recommendations embedded in community-engaged research to increase the likelihood of success in addressing SDH. Our RARE project--a partnership among a community health center, a nonprofit funding agency, and academic faculty researchers--resulted in community- and policy-level interventions for the prevention of childhood obesity in a Southwestern U.S. city.