Results of a plant screening test with implications for animal screening approaches Session: Science and Economics of Pre-import Screening for Animal Species

Several types of screening tools for precluding purposeful import of taxa with high probability of becoming invasive in a new geography have been developed. Such tools are generally developed through a retroactive test of taxa with known invasiveness in the new range. These taxa should represent the full range of both invasiveness, from never invasive to highly invasive with clear economic and environmental impacts, and type (family, growth form, life history, etc.) likely to be imported. An effective screening tool would accurately distinguish non-invaders from invaders, with few taxa requiring further evaluation before a determination is possible (Pheloung et al. 1999). Validation of the tool requires implementation on a second suite of known taxa. Further, the tool should minimize the need for expert opinion, potential for (unintentional) bias introduced by the assessor(s), and time and expense of implementation.