Evaluating online and tangible interfaces for engaging stakeholders in forecasting and control of biological invasions

Abstract

Ecological forecasts will be best suited to inform intervention strategies if they are accessible to a diversity of decision‐makers. Researchers are developing intuitive forecasting interfaces to guide stakeholders through the development of intervention strategies and visualization of results. Yet, few studies to date have evaluated how user interface design facilitates the coordinated, cross‐boundary management required for controlling biological invasions. We used a participatory approach to develop complementary tangible and online interfaces for collaboratively forecasting biological invasions and devising control strategies. A diverse group of stakeholders evaluated both systems in the real‐world context of controlling sudden oak death, an emerging forest disease killing millions of trees in California and Oregon. Our findings suggest that while both interfaces encouraged adaptive experimentation, tangible interfaces are particularly well suited to support collaborative decision‐making. Reflecting on the strengths of both systems, we suggest workbench‐style interfaces that support simultaneous interactions and dynamic geospatial visualizations.

Utility of decision tools for assessing plant health risks from management strategies in natural environments

“…New plant pest and disease knowledge is regularly generated by researchers tracking distributions, assessing new threats, and developing models to predict spread under climatic changes (Kleczkowski et al., 2020) or alternative management scenarios (Bate et al., 2016; Cunniffe et al., 2016). Yet, communicating these inferences to stakeholders is rarely an explicit focus of such studies (Cunniffe et al., 2015; Gaydos et al., 2021). Even when stakeholders are involved in plant health research this is often only at the implementation stage (e.g.…”

Forecasting global spread of invasive pests and pathogens through international trade

“…PoPS is a modular, spatially explicit, discrete‐time forecasting platform that simulates reproduction, dispersal, and establishment of pests based on weather, multiscale dispersal, and other biotic and abiotic factors. It has been used in collaboration with government and other partners to forecast the spread of Phytophthora ramorum , the causal agent of sudden oak death, and spotted lanternfly (Gaydos et al, 2021; Jones et al, 2021). Together with PoPS Border, a consignment inspection simulator used for designing dynamic, risk‐based sampling protocols at national ports of entry (Montgomery et al, 2023), these three models form a suite of tools developed to support phytosanitary management decisions along the biosecurity continuum.…”

The Inner Complexities of Multimodal Medical Data: Bitmap-Based 3D Printing for Surgical Planning Using Dynamic Physiology

“… 6–8 In addition to relieving the burden on visuospatial memory, 3D models have been shown to more accurately portray scale and proportion, a critical element to biomedical applications. 9 , 10 Despite these advantages, the most commonly employed additive manufacturing workflows, which rely on the use of mesh-based data, are fundamentally limited by an assembly paradigm that dates back to the Industrial Revolution, reinforced by digital modeling software, which renders printed objects as solid, homogeneous, and isotropic approximations of their source data.…”