Brisbane, Queensland – The Biosecurity Commons team demonstrated how its two new workflows could be used to model Mouse-ear Hawkweed at a very well received workshop at the 22nd Australasian Weeds Conference.
The conference brings together people actively involved in managing weeds and researchers with interests in protecting agricultural and natural environments.
The Biosecurity Commons team presented an overview of the platform followed by a live demonstration of the risk mapping and dispersal modelling workflows to experts ranging from research and government working across the plant and environment/invasives sectors.
The team demonstrated how the risk mapping workflow will enable users to model the likelihood of an exotic invasive species, such as Mouse-ear Hawkweed, establishing across Australia.
They also showcased the dispersal modelling workflow and how it will enable users to simulate where a pest or weed might spread to.
The outputs of these models can be used in the decision-making process for the design of biosecurity surveillance, monitoring and management.
Audience members at the workshop were polled to gauge what excited them about the platform with many of them saying ‘everything’ while others commented that it was ‘easy to use’ and you ‘don’t have to be an expert modeller and programmer’ to use it.
Paul Tudman, Project Manager for Biosecurity Commons, said: “The workshop went perfectly and allowed us to demonstrate our new workflows to a very knowledgeable audience who were impressed with its potential to change biosecurity. We received a lot of positive feedback and we’re very excited to launch the platform next year.”
