Plant pests can be highly invasive;
damaging both crops and natural habitats within the EU.
As a result, outbreaks of pests such as the Japanese beetle
and Xylella fastidiosa
are a threat to the environment, economy,
and culture of Member States in the European Union.
With many exotic species of pest being accidentally introduced into the EU,
especially as a result of international trade,
it's crucial that Member States are prepared to face these invasions
by conducting a pest survey.
But what do we mean by pest survey'?
The National Plant Protection Organisation in each Member State
is responsible for designing and conducting surveys on EU quarantine pests.
They are official procedures to determine the presence, or absence,
and characteristics of a pest.
A survey can also delimit the boundaries of an infested zone
where eradication measures are applied.
To support Member States in the planning and execution of survey activities,
the European Food Safety Authority has developed a statistical framework
for preparing and designing pest surveys.
This will result in a more harmonised approach across the EU.
EFSA's Surveillance Toolkit plays a key role in supporting Member States.
The Surveillance Toolkit helps Member States
to prepare and design pest surveys.
It provides relevant information about plant pests in the EU,
in addition to giving Member States the tools they need
to design statistically sound, risk-based surveys.
Within the Toolkit, the pest survey cards are available in story map format
and are compiled in a dedicated gallery.
Pest survey cards display available data on pests
in an interactive and lively way.
They are accessible via desktop, tablet and mobile phone,
which makes them adapted to field work.
Each pest survey card contains specific information about a particular pest.
They are designed to guide the surveyors in characterising the pests,
the target population, and the methods used to detect and identify them.
They are a guide to gather information for setting the parameters
required to design a pest survey.
The key questions they answer are what and where the pest is,
and when and how to detect the pest during the survey.
So, what does this look like in practice?
Let's take a closer look at an example - Aromia bungii,
or the red necked longhorn beetle.
This is the pest survey card for Aromia bungii.
It can be accessed through the gallery of pest survey cards,
available online.
You can see that this pest survey card begins with links to four documents.
The versioning document indicates where the pest survey card has been updated,
which is useful as new scientific information is added to the cards
whenever it becomes available.
Next, the instructions provide guidance on how to understand the format,
and a printable PDF version is also provided.
The pest survey card introduces the surveillance context,
the Toolkit for use by surveyors,
and the main challenges in detecting the pest.
Scrolling down, we see that the first section helps us to understand
what surveyors should be looking for.
It explains the taxonomy of Aromia bungii,
its EU regulatory status, the global distribution of the pest,
and, last but not least, its life cycle.
Section two focuses on where to look for the beetle.
It provides information on the host plants,
the suitable environments, the distance it can disperse,
the relevant pathways of introduction, and the mechanism of spread.
Moving on, section three describes field and laboratory work,
helping surveyors to detect and identify Aromia bungii.
It offers advice on the best time to conduct the survey,
and guidance on the available detection and identification methods
that can be applied in both the field and the lab.
Finally, the pest survey card ends with a summary of key points for surveyors.
This summary can be used to gather all the information required
for an upcoming survey.
It also provides the next steps in survey design,
in addition to useful references and a glossary.
To prepare your own pest surveys, use the pest survey cards
by visiting the plant pest survey card gallery.
To organise surveys by a specific crop, visit the crop-based gallery,
which groups the pests according to the crops they affect.
Don't forget to also visit the Toolkit for plant pest surveillance,
where you can find dedicated guidelines on the methodological framework
for statistically sound and risk-based survey design.
Over 220 pests will be added to the gallery in the coming years,
so keep checking back for more information and support for your pest surveys.
The information contained within EFSA's Surveillance Toolkit
will contribute to harmonised, transparent
and more effective pest surveillance across the EU.