Trained Pets Help Locate Invasive Insects and Plant Diseases

Research by scientists at Virginia Tech found that trained teams of pet dogs and their citizen handlers could effectively locate egg masses of the spotted lanternfly, an invasive insect damaging farms and forests across the eastern and central United States. Detection by the trained pets was comparable to that of professional detection dogs, demonstrating that citizen scientists and their dogs can play a meaningful role in protecting agriculture and the environment, the researchers say. In a separate study, researchers found that trained pet dogs could detect a major disease of vineyards, powdery mildew, with more than 90% accuracy.