Natural area visitor network: Suitability of existing pathogen data and opportunities for new data collection to parameterise a natural area visitor network model.
June 2016
The increased access of visitors into natural areas provides new routes for the entry of pathogens into places of high biodiversity value, and could facilitate the spread of an unwanted, high risk pathogen when introduced. Currently the network connections between natural areas frequented by visitors is unknown and the aim of the Biological Heritage National Science Challenge Biosecurity Network Interventions project is to develop a network model linked with the potential for pathogen spread through these natural areas.
The objective of this report is to review the suitability of existing pathogen data in natural areas, highlight the gaps that exist with the current data and identify opportunities or methods to generate new data to parametrise or validate models.