Designing surveillance for emergency response.

Abstract

Abstract This chapter concerns designing surveillance measures for responding to a detected incursion of non-indigenous species (NIS) in an area. The context may be agricultural, urban or natural landscapes - or combinations of these. The NIS may be a plant pest, or an animal disease, or an environmental pest or weed. This is a very broad sphere and so there are relevant extensive literature and policy frameworks covering NIS, especially for plant pests (International Plant Protection Convention) and animal diseases (World Organisation for Animal Health). Our intention is to contribute to this large body of work, rather than to review it, with a focus on surveillance in an emergency response. We discuss concepts, tools and guidelines for the development of both contingency plans for likely or high-risk invasive species, as well as the information required to mount a response for an unanticipated threat. We include strategic advice for planning proof-of-absence studies following an NIS incursion response. We also discuss strategies for dealing with large and heterogeneous landscapes.