Monitoring of the pest caused by dryocosmus kuriphyllus in Galician chestnut stands: biological control

The objective of this Operational Group is the application of GIS technologies to monitor the impact and progress of the wasp infestation.

Serving as a support system in decision-making regarding the areas to be treated more immediately, as well as in the introduction and development of the system that has been proven effective in the rest of Europe to solve the specific problem posed by this new pest, both in the agricultural and forestry sectors: biological control through the mass production of possible natural enemies, without ruling out the production of other possible native parasites.

The aim is to design a sampling network covering the entire surface of chestnut groves and various plantations where chestnut trees are the primary species, using a network of polygons and placing traps at the central point of each of these polygons; training forest rangers in pest recognition so that the traps and the symptoms in the trees in each polygon can be checked and monitored weekly at a minimum cost, and so that the data can be transmitted in real time using ARCGIS mobile applications.