A risk-based surveillance design for marine pest Mediterranean fanworm Sabella spallanzanii (Gmelin, 1791) (Polychaete:sabellidae) - a New Zealand case study. Pande, A., Acosta, H., Brangenberg, N., & Knight, B. Management of Biological Invasions, 8(2):257–265, February, 2017.
A risk-based surveillance design for marine pest Mediterranean fanworm Sabella spallanzanii (Gmelin, 1791) (Polychaete:sabellidae) - a New Zealand case study [pdf]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
To determine the presence, or extent and spread, of marine pests is often difficult and decisions on allocating limited sampling effort need to be made using available information. This study presents a robust structured methodology to develop a detection survey for the marine pest Sabella spallanzanii. The design of the detection survey used modelled hydrodynamics of the area and expert knowledge on settlement characteristics for Sabella. Habitat suitability for settlement was defined based on expert opinion elicited using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique and a self-administrated questionnaire. Zones for Sabella settlement were then identified by overlaying suitable habitat areas and hydrodynamic patterns of potential larval propagule dispersal. Settlement zones were assigned a risk/likelihood ranking to ensure available surveying effort was allocated efficiently over a potentially wide settlement area. This design was shown to be successful in detecting Sabella. Provided underlying hydrodynamic information is available, the structured approach to pest species detection presented here could readily be applied to develop surveillance plans for other broadcast spawning marine pests.

Downloads: 0