Decision Support Systems for the Forest Insect and Disease Survey and for Pest Management

Abstract

Effective forest pest management involves decision-making supported by useful information. The concept of Decision Support Systems is being actively pursued by the Forest Insect and Disease Survey (FIDS) of the Canadian Forestry Service to meet its information needs for analysis of forest pest conditions. The FIDSINFOBASE system was developed to provide FIDS units nationwide access to survey data. Geographic Information System capabilities are being integrated for capture and analysis of infestation maps. Possibilities exist for the integration of systems, data, and models among agencies for information standardization and exchange. Key words: information systems, forest pest management, insect and disease surveys.

Field‐scale Variations in Plant and Grasshopper Communities: A GIS‐based Assessment

“…The complementary nature of these two approaches has resulted in increased interest in making links between decision support systems (DSS), in the case of grasshoppers (see Berry et al 1996), and GIS capabilities. A DSS can access spatially-referenced data, along with other ancillary data, as input to mathematical models and other modeling methods to produce useful abstractions or recommendations (Power 1988. Lastly, the concept of an``intelligent geographical information system,'' as described by Coulson et al (1991), which utilizes a GIS and rule based models to combine landscape data and knowledge from a diversity of scientific disciplines, is likely to see increased emphasis in natural resource management as we enter the 21st Century.…”

DSS Application Areas

“…Financial matters related to forest management have been considered by Meyer (1992) and Payandeh and Basham (1993). The identification and treatment of diseases and pests have been analyzed by Power (1988). Manley and Threadgill (1991) developed a DSS that imbeds a linear programming model to evaluate New Zealand's forests.…”