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Community-Based Participatory Research Helps Farmers and Scientists to Manage Invasive Pests in the Ecuadorian Andes

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Abstract

Participatory research has not been a conspicuous methodology in developing nations for studying invasive pests, an increasing threat to the sustainable development in the tropics. Our study presents a community-based monitoring system that focuses on three invasive potato tuber moth species (PTM). The monitoring was developed and implemented by young farmers in a remote mountainous area of Ecuador. Local participants collected data from the PTM invasion front, which revealed clear connection between the abundance of one of the species (Tecia solanivora) and the remoteness to the main market place. This suggests that mechanisms structuring invasive populations at the invasion front are different from those occurring in areas invaded for longer period. Participatory monitoring with local people may serve as a cost-effective early warning system to detect and control incipient invasive pest species in countries where the daily management of biological resources is largely in the hands of poor rural people.

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Acknowledgments

This work was part of the research conducted within the projects “Biopesticide development and diffusion for the control of potato moths (C14-026)” and “Innovative Approaches to Manage Insect Pest Risks in Changing Andes (09-022)” both funded by the McKnight Foundation. We thank Lenin Lara, to have facilitated the monitoring with the College of Simiatug. The authors are also grateful to Cesar Aime, Manuel Azogues, Angel Azogues, Delia Chamaguano, Wilmer Chimborazo, Angel Cocha, Hernán Ichiquinga, Esteban Poaquiza, Mariano Poaquiza, Nicolas Sigcha, Carlos Tixilema, Hernán Yanchalaquin, and Norma Yanchalaquin for participating in the potato tuber moth monitoring in Simiatug. We thank Rebecca Nelson, Claire Nicklin, and Steven Vanek from the Cornell University and McKnight Foundation, the editor and two anonymous reviewers, for their helpful comments on a previous version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IRD, UR 072, Biodiversité, Ecologie et Evolution des Insectes Tropicaux, Laboratoire Evolution, Génomes et Spéciation, UPR 9034, CNRS, 91198, Gif-sur Yvette Cedex, France

    O. Dangles, F. Rebaudo & J. F. Silvain

  2. Université Paris-Sud 11, 91405, Orsay Cedex, France

    O. Dangles, F. Rebaudo & J. F. Silvain

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador

    O. Dangles, F. C. Carpio & B. Liger

  4. Instituto Nacional Autónomo de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Programa de Papa, Quito, Ecuador

    M. Villares & F. Yumisaca

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  1. O. Dangles
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  2. F. C. Carpio
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  7. J. F. Silvain
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Correspondence to O. Dangles.

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Dangles, O., Carpio, F.C., Villares, M. et al. Community-Based Participatory Research Helps Farmers and Scientists to Manage Invasive Pests in the Ecuadorian Andes. AMBIO 39, 325–335 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-010-0041-4

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