DS-Alert system

Description

Fact Sheet

The Decision-support system consists of several components. It is intended to provide information to assist in managing invasion risks from fruit flies, in particular Bactrocera dorsalis, B. zonata and Ceratitis capitata. The system addresses risks at three areas of concern: pre-border, at border and post-border.

Pre-border

Pre-border pest management is focused on inspection of high-risk commodities and passenger arrivals. The DS-Alert system includes modelling of climate suitability in source regions for each fruit fly species. This is done using climatology data, providing a picture of the climatic potential distribution of the species.

This information can inform pest risk assessments, identifying the areas at risk and in turn the assets at risk. The same model is run using both current climate and climate change scenarios, so that the emerging risk patterns can be taken into account when developing or revising phytosanitary measures.