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Go big or go home: A model-based assessment of general strategies to slow the spread of forest pests via infested firewood.

ABSTRACT: Invasive pests, such as emerald ash borer or Asian longhorn beetle, have been responsible for unprecedented ecological and economic damage in eastern North America. These and other wood-boring invasive insects can spread to new areas through human transport of untreated firewood. Behaviour, such as transport of firewood, is affected not only by immediate material benefits and costs, but also by social forces. Potential approaches to reduce the spread of wood-boring pests through firewood include raising awareness of the problem and increasing the social costs of the damages incurred by transporting firewood. In order to evaluate the efficacy of these measures, we create a coupled social-ecological model of firewood transport, pest spread, and social dynamics, on a geographical network of camper travel between recreational destinations. We also evaluate interventions aimed to slow the spread of invasive pests with untreated firewood, such as inspections at checkpoints to stop the movement of transported firewood and quarantine of high-risk locations. We find that public information and awareness programs can be effective only if the rate of spread of the pest between and within forested areas is slow. Direct intervention via inspections at checkpoints can only be successful if a high proportion of the infested firewood is intercepted. Patch quarantine is only effective if sufficiently many locations can be included in the quarantine and if the quarantine begins early. Our results indicate that the current, relatively low levels of public outreach activities and lack of adequate funding are likely to render inspections, quarantine and public outreach efforts ineffective.

SUBMITTER: Jentsch PC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7491730 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BACKGROUND:In 2010, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) was created to fund patient-centered research that meaningfully engages stakeholders impacted by that research. As a result, investigators became interested in understanding who are appropriate stakeholders and what meaningful engagement in research looks like (6, 8-10). OBJECTIVE:To understand how and when stakeholder engagement worked well and identify areas for enhancing engagement in a PCORI-funded research study of peer-to-peer support of older adults in three communities across the USA. DESIGN:Qualitative interview study. PARTICIPANTS:Twelve members of the inter-disciplinary research team. APPROACH:Interviews were conducted via phone, recorded, and transcribed. Transcripts were analyzed using a constant comparative method to identify themes. Transcripts were independently coded; coded themes were discussed by a small group of the research team to check interpretation and clarify meaning. Once initial themes were identified, the interviews and codes were shared with an external consultant who recoded all 12 transcripts and conducted further analysis and interpretation. Documentation from research meetings was used to validate our findings. KEY RESULTS:Strategies for facilitating meaningful engagement in the partnership, proposal, study design, and planning phase were very similar to community-based participatory research and include the use of community to identify research needs, equitable compensation and leadership, and budgeting for engagement activities. Strategies in the data collection phase include the use of cultural brokers, weekly data calls between the academic PI and imbedded research assistants, and maintaining joint ownership for research. CONCLUSIONS:Major funding institutions (e.g., NIH, PCORI) recognize that community engagement leads to higher quality, more meaningful research (7, 21). Our results support that assumption and in addition, suggest an investment in engagement strategies at the onset of a research project and the use of cultural brokers can greatly contribute to the success of implementing a large, multi-site research project.

Dataset Information

Go big or go home: A model-based assessment of general strategies to slow the spread of forest pests via infested firewood.

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