Insect identification expert system for forest protection

A forest can be considered as the major component of an ecosystem since it plays a critical role-in soil protection, air quality, flood reduction, etc. It also plays a significant economic role for rural areas and for the national economy as a whole. The forest's health depends on many factors, such as biological, physical and anthropogenic. During recent decades, however, its health weakens continuously, because of the extreme meteorological phenomena and the increase of wildfires. As a consequence, the forest's sensitivity to secondary attacks by insects and fungus increases rapidly, since the latter find convenient expansion conditions. In this paper, an Expert System (ES) is described which identifies forest insects and proposes relevant treatment. It can identify more than forty distinct insects, either from some stage of their, lifecycle or from the damage they cause to trees or from the findings that they leave in the forest. Once an insect identification is completed, the system can recommend an appropriate treatment, aiming at reducing spread of insects in the whole forest and at minimizing possible forest damage. The system is enhanced with photos and drawings that assist the user in the precise and quick identification of an insect. It can be used by unspecialised personnel or inexperienced users, such as forest owners. It can also be used in education or for training purposes, as a simple tutoring system. One major advantage of the ES is that it integrates, in, a single module, knowledge from diverse areas. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.