Scent detection dogs for the <scp>A</scp>sian longhorn beetle, <i><scp>A</scp>noplophora glabripennis</i>

Abstract

Surveillance for the Asian longhorn beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis , currently depends on visual inspection. As one complementary method, dogs have been trained and employed for the detection of A. glabripennis since 2009. In this study, two sets of experiments in double‐blind trials were carried out to quantify the sensitivity of the dog detection method using 10 dogs in the first set and 14 dogs in the second. All experiments used the same basic set‐up of 2 positive and 6 negative samples presented in random order. In the first series, A. glabripennis scent material (frass, a living larva or infested wood plus a living larva) was placed in hollow building blocks invisible to dogs and handlers. The experiments had an overall sensitivity of 85–93% (correct positives of all positives) and specificity of 79–94% (correct negatives of all negatives). The second series tested more realistic but also standardized situations: A. glabripennis frass and wood shavings were hidden in ground vegetation at the base of young poplar trees in a plantation, in tubes at a height of 1.8 m on these poplar trees and in crevices on old trees in an orchard at a height of about 1.8 m, respectively. These experiments had an overall sensitivity of 75–88% and a specificity of 85–96%.