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Iowa Entering STS Program

Amos Ziegler — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:31:58 +0000

The state of Iowa will officially be part of the National Slow the Spread of the Gypsy Moth Project in 2009. Iowa will transition to standard STS trapping and data management protocols within the defined STS project areas. ASETS will be working with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and USDA APHIS in managing the 2009 Iowa STS data. ASETS, as part of its role as the northern STS Information Systems Group (STS-ISG), will provide assistance with data transfer, managemanet, and mapping.

Iowa will be using the data management and GIS resources of the STS Information Systems Group at Michigan State University (ISG-MSU). ISG-MSU maintains the northern database node of the distributed data and GIS infrastructure of the Nations Slow the Spread Project. An additional ISG node exists in the Department of Entomology at Virginia Tech.

Tracking EAB Parasitoids

Amos Ziegler — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:08:20 +0000

Mapping the release of biological control agents is often overlooked as an important aspect of being able to evaluate the success of an agent on the control of a pest. Researchers with the U.S. Forest Service and USDA APHIS are engaged in a long-term study of the effectiveness of several parasitic wasps on the control of Emerald Ash Borer in the U.S.

ASETS is collaborating with these researchers to develop data collection protocols and data management tools for the management of release and monitoring data.

Mapping Garlic Mustard

Amos Ziegler — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:12:45 +0000

The Michigan Invasive Species Information Network (MISIN) will be partnering with the Ingham County and West Michigan clusters of The Stewardship Network to map the locations of garlic mustard in these regions of the lower peninsula. Data on the locations of the garlic mustard infestations will be added to the MISIN database on invasive species in an atempt to increase the understanding of the distribution of invasives within the state.

ASETS is the lead developer of the MISIN mapping and data management system. We are cooperating with the Landis Lab at MSU and the Michigan Natural Features Inventory in the development of this important invasives project.