BE/CNH: Biocomplexity in a Coupled Natural and Human System: The Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter and Threats to the California Wine Industry

Utah State University, Logan UT

Investigators

Abstract

White 0119888 Invasive organisms pose serious threats to ecological and socioeconomic systems but in many cases can be controlled or at least managed through the use of an integrated analysis designed to consider the network of complex interactions among natural, economic, political, and cultural systems. In this research, the investigators examine the coupled natural and human system controlling the dispersion of the glassy winged sharpshooter, an insect carrying the deadly bacterial Pierce's Disease currently infesting Californian wine-producing regions. The project goals are to: (1) conduct a workshop in which an international group of experts will gather to discuss factors controlling the organism's dispersal, and (2) based on these discussions, develop a proof-of-concept model to simulate sharpshooter dispersal. The final product will be a modeling framework with which to test the effect of policy decisions on organism dispersal. This approach, focused here on the sharpshooter, is designed to be applicable to invasive organism in general.