A location aware system for integrated management of red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus)

The Red Palm Weevil (RPW) Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), has become the major pest of palm trees in the Mediterranean Basin where has been spread mainly in the last seven years. The riddling and cryptic behavior of the pest complicates its early detection and commonly, when the action of the pest is discovered, it is too late for recovering the plant. For an efficient and integrated management of the RPW, it is necessary to make a complete and thorough acquisition of the current infestation parameters, such as the location of each palm tree, the RPW population characteristics, the species of each palm tree, and the infestation risk. In addition, the data of the digitized palm trees must be available for a wide area and must be up to date, so as to be possible to estimate the infestation risk and the measures that must be taken. In this study, a Location-aware system (LAS) suitable for the integrated management of the RPW is presented. The LAS was used under real conditions in Pedion Areos, the central park of Athens in Greece. By the utilization of the system in real time conditions, the infestation risk by the RPW has been detected at early stages providing more efficient treatment. Keywords: Red Palm Weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, GPS, Geographical Information System (GIS), Location aware system (LAS), Decision Support System (DSS), Web, Infestation risk.