Early detection and monitoring of Red Pam Weevil: Approaches and challenges

The manuscript reviews the current state of knowledge as well as research and development on detection and monitoring of the Red Palm Weevil (RPW). Despite the intensive effort that has been put in the development of the RPW detection techniques, technologies including chemical and acoustical methods, are yet falling back from being practical or feasible, leaving detection dependent mainly on visual inspection in most areas. Pros and cons of various detection methods are presented in Table 4. Considerable effort is still required to improve the efficacy and sensitivity of the already available methods such as acoustic and olfactory detection by dogs; protocols for inspection of commonly affected palms are needed, while visual thermal detection is under evaluation. No single method is adequately sensitive and cost effective and there is still no good solution for area wide detection. Remote detection by thermal and olfactory cues is very promising for area wide inspection but still far from application. At the moment a combination of methods and technologies is required to form an optimal solution.