PARENT SESSION
Contributed Oral Session 132: Invasive Species: Management and Indicator Species
Thursday, August 11, 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM, Meeting Room 516 A, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal

Optimizing control strategies for invasive species.

Hall, Richard^*,1, Hastings, Alan¹, Taylor, Caz², ¹ University of California, Davis² Simon Frasier University, Vancouver, Canada

ABSTRACT- The design of cost-effective control strategies for invasive species is a problem of the utmost importance. Here we show how a stage-structured population subject to annual harvesting can be formulated as a linear programming problem, allowing the efficient calculation of an optimal removal strategy. Using the invasion of Smooth Cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) in Willapa Bay, WA as an example, we demonstrate how the timing of control is determined by balancing the ecological benefits of early removal with the economic benefits of waiting. We further show how the costs of lasting ecological damage caused by the invader and restoration costs may be incorporated into the model framework.

Key words: invasion, control, Spartina alterniflora, linear programming