Applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Plant Pest Risk Assessment. E. Stahevitch and Erhard J. Dobesberger, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 3851 Fallowfield Rd., Nepean, Ontario, Canada K2H 8P9
Canadians import more than two thousand separate categories of plants and plant products. These can carry a wide variety of plant pests including viruses and virus-like organisms, bacteria, fungi, nematodes, insects and mites, snails, and weeds, which are characterized by diverse life cycles. Unlike internal parasites of man and animals, plant pests do not reside in a homothermic medium, and so are not buffered from environmental extremes. These characteristics result in differential abilities of plant pest species to become established successfully in various parts of Canada. Geographic information systems (GIS) together with appropriate databases are being used for predicting the potential distribution of exotic plant pests and thereby predicting their potential impact as part of the risk characterization equation. GIS also has proven useful in detection and delimitation survey planning by characterizing areas of Canada most at risk for the establishment of specific pests.