| Project Detail |
? Background and rationale. Invasive species are a known cause of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, but translating ecological research about invasion dynamics into effective control remains difficult. Management must deal with uncertainty about long-term effects, limited resources and conflicting objectives including, increasingly, animal welfare considerations. Recent conservation science has explored approaches to address such issues, but implementation is limited, especially in Switzerland and Europe. Methods for dealing with uncertainty, such as adaptive management (where one uses monitoring to evaluate success and adjust actions as needed), are typically underused and poorly applied. Multiple and competing objectives, particularly those highly uncertain (like dispersal) or difficult to quantify (like animal welfare), are often traded off arbitrarily, risking irrational decisions. This project seeks to address these gaps.? Objectives and aims. In our study, we will focus on the invasive pond slider Trachemys scripta, a North American turtle widely introduced across Europe, included in the IUCN’s list of the worst 100 invasive species. We aim to:1.Estimate the potential for T. scripta establishment and spread across Switzerland.2.Assess different control methods for T. scripta in terms of cost-effectiveness and welfare implications.3.Use this example to demonstrate a simulation-based, adaptive and multi-objective planning framework for invasive species.? Methodology. We will organize our project into three work packages. Work package 1 will focus on adapting and parameterising a spatially explicit demographic model of T. scripta, first based on age classes, then based on body size. We will parameterise this model by collecting data about T. scripta breeding (nest tracking) and dispersal (geolocation and radiotracking). Work package 2 will focus on assessing cost-effectiveness and welfare of multiple control methods for T. scripta (shooting, nest destruction and multiple trapping methods), collecting field and experimental data and using formal expert elicitation where necessary. Work package 3 will integrate our model into a simulation of management scenarios, including monitoring and learning, and accounting for different preferences of end-users to make optimal decisions.? Expected results. WP1 will provide quantitative projections of T. scripta invasion in Switzerland, including novel information about breeding and dispersal. WP2 will provide fundamental evidence about eradication and/or control options, particularly long-term effectiveness and welfare implications, neither of which have been formally examined to date. WP3 will demonstrate how to successfully integrate multiple decision-support tools for application in invasive species management.? Impact. This is a strongly user-inspired project, in collaboration with managers in Switzerland (infofauna-karch) and Italy (project 21-NAT-IT-LIFE URCA). These strong links with management will help our data collection and ensure our results have positive impacts for both the specific case study and broader conservation practice. Specifically, our research on T. scripta will provide indications of its invasive potential and preferable management strategies, both in Switzerland, for immediate application by BAFU and cantonal authorities, and for similar planning in other European countries. Conceptually, we will demonstrate how invasive species management can rationally account for the trade-offs among biological, economic and welfare considerations. Globally, our integrated framework will improve the implementation of decision support methods in Swiss and European conservation, including but not limited to invasive species control. |
