This symposium summarizes the lessons learned from a Distributed Graduate Seminar hosted by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). Seven universities participated in a 1-or-more credit seminar on ecologic and economic impacts of non-native forest pests and pathogens. This was followed with a synthesis workshop at NCEAS.
Results/Conclusions
Several themes have come out of the synthesis efforts. These include:
1. A major limitation for economic analysis of invasive species is the difficulty in estimating the dollar value of complex ecosystem services. Every seminar found that 'Ecosystem Services' are difficult to quantify and almost impossible to value. The group working on Gypsy moth impacts in urban and suburban environments had the most success in quantifying ecosystem services because the value of trees and the associated arboriculture is reasonably well established. 2. Much of the future can be predicted from the past, and lessons learned from successes and failures in controlling invasive species spread can aid in future analysis, planning and management. For example, although seemingly obvious, successes in the past have come largely from immediate responses at a scale that eradicates the invasive organism. 3. Much synthetic discussion revolved around what economists need from ecologists and what ecologists need from economists. Economists need hard data on dispersal and spread of invasive species. For example, a group working with Sudden Oak Death in Oregon found that the ability of Phythophthora ramorum to spread naturally up to 5 km, is a controlling factor in a tradeoff analysis of how wide a host reduction zone should be in slowing or stopping the northward spread of the pathogen. Without data on dispersal and spread biology, there is no way to determine tradeoffs associated with barrier zones, quarantine sizes, or other control measures. Economists also need to know what ecosystem services are lost and what their value is. Ecologists want economists to tell congress and other funding agencies that invasive species are costing society real money and we should do something about it. But economists are really more interested in doing dynamic trade-off analysis and aiding ecologists in determining how best to allocate limited resources and plan responses. 4. New tools are emerging in the fast growing mathematical modeling and landscape/geospatial ecology fields that will provide refined predictive capabilities. This will aid economic trade-off analysis.
