SCAN-Clim: a tool to support pest climate suitability analysis based on climate classification.

Area of Science:

• Plant pathology
• Risk assessment
• Climate science

Background:

• Plant pest establishment risk assessments require climate suitability analysis.
• Current methods often rely on climate classifications to identify favorable conditions for pest development.
• The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) conducts pest categorizations and risk assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce SCAN-Clim, a tool supporting climate suitability analysis for EFSA's pest risk assessments.
• To improve the efficiency and standardization of generating climate suitability maps.

Main Methods:

• Development of SCAN-Clim as a prototype tool in the R language.
• Utilizing climate classifications to assess conditions favorable for pest development and persistence.
• Application of the tool in over 34 EFSA works for pest categorisation and quantitative risk assessment.

Main Results:

• SCAN-Clim significantly accelerated the generation of climate suitability maps.
• The tool ensured a standardized format for generated maps.
• Provided comprehensive documentation for input and output data.

Conclusions:

• SCAN-Clim is an effective tool for supporting EFSA's climate suitability analyses in plant health risk assessments.
• The tool enhances speed and standardization in map generation.
• Future development includes an interactive web app for wider accessibility.