Can you add a specific pest or disease to the pest detection module in Eco

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azelaya
i-Tree Team
Posts: 372
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:50 am

Can you add a specific pest or disease to the pest detection module in Eco

Post by azelaya » Mon Jun 10, 2019 9:41 am

Question - There is no Dendroctonus ruffepennis available as a pest in dropdowns menu when using the iPed pest detection module with Eco. This is the major insect pest in Alaska. If I enter bark beetle as the pest, the scientific name is auto-populated as Hylurgops palliatus. Can this be added into the drop down as a selection?

Reply - Unfortunately, the pest list in the IPED module is static and new pests are not being added to the module. Funding for the original integration of this module into Eco didn't provide for long-term updating with new pests of concern. Therefore, this is a limitation of using the Pest Detection module in i-Tree. The developers of this system were more interested in establishing a standard protocol for assessing and monitoring of pest and disease sign and symptom while conducting tree inventories without needing to identity the causal agent. This system was not intended to be a diagnostic tool for identifying pests but a method for raising a red flag of a potential issue for follow-up, monitoring or to seek further assistance.

A limitation of the iped pest detection protocol is that many times the pest or disease is known by the data collector in the field, but you are limited to entering "Unknown" because of the limited selection and using comments to capture additional information.

-Al
A member of the i-Tree Team
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