An evaluation of Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) detection dog training and performance

Abstract

Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) is an invasive foreign insect that is threatening U.S. forestry and agriculture. In 2017, it was estimated that SLF generated over $ 300 million in losses to Pennsylvania’s agriculture and forestry. Because of the SLF life cycle, the most efficient way to eradicate or prevent its spread is to identify and destroy the egg masses before they hatch. However, egg masses are difficult to locate because they are camouflaged making it difficult to be detected by the human eye. A recent study found that detection dogs can be trained to detect dead SLF egg masses, suggesting that dogs can be used to find egg masses in the field. The aim of this study was to further evaluate dogs’ detection capability by performing a detailed evaluation of dog training and performance. Ten dogs were trained to detect dead SLF egg masses using an automated olfactometer. The training was divided into eight phases in which we tested dogs’ ability to transfer to novel SLF samples and to discriminate SLF egg masses from different environmental distractors followed by a final validation phase. Results show that after training with a single set of samples, dogs were able to transfer their training to different novel samples. In training, dogs showed higher false alerts to distractor tree barks and to freeze-dried crickets than to any other distractor. During the validation phase, dogs’ average sensitivity and specificity to SLF egg masses on bark were 99. 14 ± 0.33% and 99.41 ± 0.21%, respectively. Data show that dogs can easily detect and discriminate SLF egg masses from other environmental distractors and highlight the importance of training dogs with relevant distractors they will encounter in the field to prevent false alerts. Our experiment further confirms that detection dogs can be used as an effective partner to help in SLF eradication efforts.