Effective communication and IPM data reporting should be an integral part of the reason why we keep report and analyse pest monitoring data. To support pest management efforts, after careful monitoring, it is important to target specific recipients in order to better present and communicate your data. Depending on the audience you are communicating to, the goal of presenting IPM data might change. Different stakeholders would have different ways of retaining the information you share and a selection of data visualizations should be considered.

Record keeping for pest data will depend on factors such as the amount of data, technological savvy of staff, computing capabilities of the institution, etc. Record keeping can range from a simple list, an MS Excel spreadsheet, a custom database or sophisticated GIS tracking programs. The key is to develop a system that is sustainable with your institution’s resources and allows you to store and track the data in a meaningful way since even a single year’s worth of pest monitoring can wind up creating a lot of data.

Resources:

MuseumPests welcomes collaborations with developers and coders interested in using our information to create tools that serve the cultural heritage community.  Tools developed in conjunction with the work of MuseumPests are listed here:

  • Here is a spread sheet template (download) that can be used with LibreOffice Calc or Excel.

  • ZPest Tracker – an online tool that follows the MPWG recommendations for logging and reporting pest data. The goal of monitoring and reporting is to use your data to maintain an effective IPM program. Zpest Tracker is a replacement for the original Zpest and Collection Pests programs. It runs cross platform on most devices.
  • For institutions interested in developing their own database:  The Database Field List document was created by members of the IPM-WG is to identify data fields that are most important for tracking pest observation data in a new pest database.  The fields have been divided into four categories: mandatory, suggested, optional and not recommended. It must be remembered that every institution has different needs and goals, so as you design your database, your task will be to select the fields that fit your institution’s needs. There may also be fields not found on this list that you will want to include, but please remember that by keeping your database simple, you will increase its usability.

NHM - Mapping Pest Activity ImageTo see what other institutions have been doing to record and map their IPM data take a look at some of the following presentations:

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