Value of Sample Information in Pest Control Decision Making

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Abstract
Pest control specialists construct and use decision rules to guide pest control actions. These decision rules usually consist of a sampling protocol for use in estimating or classifying pest densities and guidelines for actions based on these estimates. The bases for these guidelines are economic or action thresholds. The behavior of a pest control decision rule is rarely appraised in any formal manner. Decision theory is an avenue for appraising and comparing decision rules and a method whereby sampling intensity and guidelines for taking pest control actions can be considered jointly. The value of sample information, from the perspective of improved pest management, is calculated using decision theory. This value is used as an objective function for decision rule formulation and appraisal. Methods for calculating the value of sample information are presented and illustrations are provided.

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