Information Technologies for Multi-Scale Disease Forecasting and Surveillance Systems

Information Technologies for Multi-Scale Disease Forecasting and Surveillance Systems

Presentations for a symposium held at the 2007 American Phytopathology Annual Meeting

Section: Epidemiology / Ecology / Environmental Biology

Organizers: Roger Magarey, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC; Asimina Mila, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

Sponsoring Committee: Epidemiology

Recently, the introduction of soybean rust has spurred development in new internet technologies that have enabled the deployment of a pest information platform (PIPE) with a level of sophistication not previously achieved for an invasive agricultural pest in the United States. With appropriate federal or industry funding, it is likely that the PIPE system will be expanded to other commodities and pests. In this symposium, we look at the current application and future of information technologies for disease forecasting and surveillance systems for both exotic and endemic plant pathogens. Presentations will be a synthesis of the latest developments in the components of the PIPE including information architecture, data collection, modeling, interpretation, and dissemination with speakers from different forecasting and surveillance systems. Each speaker will make recommendations either for collaboration or research to improve each component. The symposium concludes with a discussion of individual recommendations to improve disease forecasting systems, focusing on new research initiatives and collaboration between government, university, and industry partners.