A Lack of “Environmental Earth Data” at the Microhabitat Scale Impacts Efforts to Control Invasive Arthropods That Vector Pathogens
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The Ms aims to suggest that the technological capacity exists to improve the spatial and temporal resolution of species distribution models, and these can serve to improve invasive specis control. This is a potentially useful suggestion. Howeve,r there are no clear suggestions how to achieve this, nor any protocol is suggested. The exmaples seem rather haphazard and disconnected. The language is very complicated, in many places redundant (for exampl,e instead of simply "data", the reference is usually to "data products").
Some linguistic suggestins are inserted directly into the MS, some others are listed below.
line 33 sentence meaningless, lacking a verb.
41 the usual terminology is "global change" - of which the listed other factors are components.
47-48 first element is not clear - is this for this pest only , or does the amount refer to all insect pests? - rephrase to clarify
52-53 ... mosquitoes such as... (no need to refer to family)
60 the cotton whitefly is a "species flock" and not a single species, so it is best to refer to it using the term
67 I would require a less drastic phrasing - these are not only spatial problems. The means often are not available to act. The invasion location is very important but is not the only important element
78 prior to the...
80-83 needs simplification
83-6 pse change the placement of the citations so that they can be directly linked to relevant parts of the sentence
86-7 try to rephrase the sentence to be less "bureaucratese"
89 delete "ecology" - superfluous
91-2 clarify and simplify: Over the last decades advances in remote sensing technology and new satellites have hugely increased the amount and improved quality of the data used in SDMs.
94 do not write "data products" - write simply "data" (here and elsewhere)
109-10: "offer data at high temporal (hourly)but coarse spatial..."
Around lines 160 ff, a substantial inconsistency takes shape: the claims are all about effects of invasions, writing, for example, that "uncertainty prevails concerning what ecosystems will be invaded and what impacts an invasion will have within these ecosystems”,- then all the authors are concerned with is a more precise estimate where to spray insecticides - they do not even mention any possible environmental advantages of better spatial or temporal resolution. This then ends in lofty language to cover a basically simple and environmentally very debatable course of action.
177 metamorphose or "complete individual development"
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
The Ms aims to suggest that the technological capacity exists to improve the spatial and temporal resolution of species distribution models, and these can serve to improve invasive specis control. This is a potentially useful suggestion. Howeve,r there are no clear suggestions how to achieve this, nor any protocol is suggested. The exmaples seem rather haphazard and disconnected. The language is very complicated, in many places redundant (for exampl,e instead of simply "data", the reference is usually to "data products").
Some linguistic suggestins are inserted directly into the MS, some others are listed below.
We would like to thank the reviewer for their helpful input in improving the manuscript and we are hopeful that we have addressed their suggestions as outlined below. In addition, we have incorporated the changes suggested directly in the manuscript pdf.
Point 1: line 33 sentence meaningless, lacking a verb.
Response 1: The sentence has been modified to.
“For example, we examine issues related to interpolation of data from weather stations and the lack of microclimatic data.”
Point 2: 41 the usual terminology is "global change" - of which the listed other factors are components.
Response 2: The text has been corrected to “global change”.
Point 3: 47-48 first element is not clear - is this for this pest only , or does the amount refer to all insect pests? - rephrase to clarify
Response 3: We have modified the introduction as we felt there was superfluous information not relevant to the overall manuscript message and have removed mention of the vine mealybug pest
Point 4: 52-53 ... mosquitoes such as... (no need to refer to family)
Response 4: We have modified the text to remove reference to the family.
Point 5: 60 the cotton whitefly is a "species flock" and not a single species, so it is best to refer to it using the term
Response 5: We have updated the text to reflect this:
“cotton whitefly (Bemisia species, including Bemisia tabaci)”.
Point 6: 67 I would require a less drastic phrasing - these are not only spatial problems. The means often are not available to act. The invasion location is very important but is not the only important element
Response 5: We have added the following text to address some of the other issues related to invasion control:
“Although this is an oversimplification of an often more complex issue, for example due to a lack of personnel or funding to implement eradication efficiently, insufficient perceived risk of IAVPs, and even IAVP resistance to insecticides”
Point 7: 78 prior to the...
Response 7: The text has been modified as suggested.
Point 8: 80-83 needs simplification
Response 8: The text has been modified to:
“Species distribution models (SDMs) are frequently used to predict the current and future geographic distribution of IAVPs [12, 13,19] due to their ability to be applied to species that cannot be directly detected (e.g. because they are small, elusive or inhabit remote locations).”
Point 9: 83-6 pse change the placement of the citations so that they can be directly linked to relevant parts of the sentence
Response 9: Reference placement has been modified as suggested
Point 10: 86-7 try to rephrase the sentence to be less "bureaucratese"
Response 10: The text has been modified as follows:
“More and more frequently, environmental data derived from satellites is being used in SDMs due to the relatively high spatial and temporal coverage of these data”
Point 11: 89 delete "ecology" – superfluous
Response 11: This has been deleted as suggested.
Point 12: 91-2 clarify and simplify: Over the last decades advances in remote sensing technology and new satellites have hugely increased the amount and improved quality of the data used in SDMs.
Response 12: The text has been modified as suggested but with some changes:
“In the last few decades there has been a sharp increase in the number of publications on SDMs, such that currently hundreds of studies associated with SDMs are published each year (Lobo et al.). This dramatic rise in interest related to SDMs is in part due to the advances in remote sensing technology, including new satellites and sensors, that have hugely increased the quantity and quality of environmental data that can be used in SDMs [22].
Point 13: 94 do not write "data products" - write simply "data" (here and elsewhere)
Response 13: We have changed this as suggested throughout
Point 14: 109-10: "offer data at high temporal (hourly)but coarse spatial..."
Response 14: The text has been modified as suggested.
Point 15: Around lines 160 ff, a substantial inconsistency takes shape: the claims are all about effects of invasions, writing, for example, that "uncertainty prevails concerning what ecosystems will be invaded and what impacts an invasion will have within these ecosystems”,- then all the authors are concerned with is a more precise estimate where to spray insecticides - they do not even mention any possible environmental advantages of better spatial or temporal resolution. This then ends in lofty language to cover a basically simple and environmentally very debatable course of action.
Response 15: At this point in the manuscript we are providing a realistic and concrete example of how SDMs are currently used to control IAVPs, but we do mention elsewhere in the manuscript other ways in which SDMs or environmental data could be used to inform IAVP control or mitigation, for example:
“...where to install deer fences to control tick abundances or communicating to the agricultural sector and the public where to be aware of IAVP presence.”
“... to identify and locate swimming pools in California due to their role in providing a suitable habitat for mosquitoes to lay eggs in”
Point 16: 177 metamorphose or "complete individual development"
Response 14: The text has been corrected to say “metamorphose”.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.doc
Reviewer 2 Report
Thank you for writing this paper - it is a very important topic with a lot of work needed to be done.
I only have general observations and critiques to offer, with the exception of one specific correction on page 3 L 102 - the NLCD is available at 30 meter resolution).
Generally, you have done a great job introducing the problem at hand with open access, high resolution data. I like the discussion on SDMs, but the link between SDMs and remote sensing data was less developed than it could be. For example, in vegetation ecology we often use the remote sensing data to validate SDMs. You make valid points about niche modeling, and I like Figure 1 to help illustrate that concept.
My overall critique is that, while you've done a great job capturing the problem, the possible solutions are few. Additionally, some of the limitations aren't spelled out completely. Why haven't SDMs for IVAPs been done with new high resolution satellite imagery? Or drone data? What is preventing the application?
While all good remote sensing scientists would agree that ground-based empirical data is almost always desired, that are many cases when it simply cannot be collected. Is there a medium ground between the coarse-level remote sensing and BioClim type products, and the microscale that IVAPs respond? What would be the optimal resolution (spatial, temporal, and spectral) for IVAP SDMs?
Finally, I think it might be worth highlighting some of the databases that have been developed to host microhabitat (and all types really) of data relevant to the questions you raise. I'm thinking things like DataONE, ORICD, etc.
Otherwise, this is a great body of work and will hopefully inspire the next generation of SDMs.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 2 Comments
Thank you for writing this paper - it is a very important topic with a lot of work needed to be done.
We would like to thank the reviewer for their helpful input in improving the manuscript and we are hopeful that we have addressed their suggestions as outlined below.
Point 1: I only have general observations and critiques to offer, with the exception of one specific correction on page 3 L 102 - the NLCD is available at 30 meter resolution).
Response 1: We have corrected the text accordingly.
Point 2: Generally, you have done a great job introducing the problem at hand with open access, high resolution data. I like the discussion on SDMs, but the link between SDMs and remote sensing data was less developed than it could be. For example, in vegetation ecology we often use the remote sensing data to validate SDMs. You make valid points about niche modeling, and I like Figure 1 to help illustrate that concept.
Response 2: While vegetation can be detected through remote sensors, invasive arthropods would pass undetected to any remotely sensed imageries due to their small size and tendency to hide in sheltered locations. We believe that while finer resolution (spatial, temporal and spectral) environmental data could heavily contribute to predict with more accuracy the distribution of abundances of IAVPs in space and time, these data would be of little help for the validations of such predictors, which will still need to be validated by field observations. However, we have heavily edited the manuscript throughout and hope to have better developed the link between SDMs and remote sensing data.
Point 3: My overall critique is that, while you've done a great job capturing the problem, the possible solutions are few. Additionally, some of the limitations aren't spelled out completely. Why haven't SDMs for IVAPs been done with new high resolution satellite imagery? Or drone data? What is preventing the application?
Response 3: The authors have added the following text in section 5. Attempting to Overcome the Lack of Microhabitat Data of the manuscript:
“However, although the resolution of environmental data collected by satellite imagery is continually improving, there may be a considerable lag time between such data being available and being used in SDMs, which typically require time series data spanning multiple years to truly capture the climate at a location. In addition high resolution data at such a large scale requires intense computational power and expertise for it to be used in SDMs, as high resolution satellite data brings with it challenges related to differentiating the detail between variables within the imagery as well as new sources of noise (Nandra and Rocchini 2008). For instance, a project that aimed to use QuickBird satellite imagery to calculate the normalized difference water index (NDWI) to locate swimming pools in California due to their role as a habitat for invasive mosquitoes. However ground truthing of the data showed that shadows cast upon swimming pools by surrounding trees or structures resulted in a lower NDWI value and reduced detectability (McFeeters 2013)”
Point 4: While all good remote sensing scientists would agree that ground-based empirical data is almost always desired, that are many cases when it simply cannot be collected. Is there a medium ground between the coarse-level remote sensing and BioClim type products, and the microscale that IVAPs respond? What would be the optimal resolution (spatial, temporal, and spectral) for IVAP SDMs?
Response 4: We have added the following text to the 6. Conclusions section of the manuscript which we hope answers these important questions:
“The optimal resolution for applications for IAVP will likely vary according to the species under consideration, but we assume that this resolution will typically be <1 m. We are aware that the scientific community is far from having, for example, remotely sensed measured temperature data at 1 m resolution for large extensions. However, we argue that any effort to improve the availability of data at a finer resolution than currently available will be of great benefit for modeling the distribution, abundances or demographic rates of IAVP species.”
Point 5: Finally, I think it might be worth highlighting some of the databases that have been developed to host microhabitat (and all types really) of data relevant to the questions you raise. I'm thinking things like DataONE, ORICD, etc.
Response 5: The following text has been added to section 5. Attempting to Overcome the Lack of Microhabitat Data of the manuscript:
“IIn addition, online data repositories that include microhabitat data are available, such as DataONE (Data Observation Network for Earth, https://www.dataone.org/), JaLTER (Japan Long-Term Ecological Research Network; http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/style/skins/jalter-en/index.jsp), GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility, https://www.gbif.org, for example see [Kraus et al. 2017]), and the VLIZ: IMIS (The Flanders Marine Institute: Integrated Marine Information System, http://www.vliz.be/en/imis for example see [Guden et al. 2018]). Whilst these databases represent a great resource, people must be made aware that microclimatic data do exist. Centralization of the microhabitat data within these databases in a single dedicated repository, could greatly facilitate the dissemination and use of these microhabitat data”
Author Response File: Author Response.doc
Reviewer 3 Report
The paper is generally well written, except the taxonomic references need some work. In text PDF comments are attached.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 3 Comments
We would like to thank the reviewer for their helpful input in improving the manuscript and we are hopeful that we have addressed their suggestions as outlined below.
Point 1: such as vine mealybugs cost “the” US$
Response 1: At the request of another reviewer we have rephrased this sentence for clarity. It now reads: “For example in the USA invasive insects cost the agricultural sector USD 13 billion per year due to crop loss and damage”.
Point 2: Need a space between US and $ throughout.
Response 2: We have changed the currency format to USD rather than US$, but have added the space as suggested (e.g.; USD 13 billion per year).
Point 3: Change Ae. albopictus to A. albopictus
Response 3: We prefer to keep the Ae. abbreviation, for example as per http://mosquito-taxonomic-inventory.info/simpletaxonomy/term/6067
Point 4: Insert authority after species names
Response 4: We have inserted the authority and year following first mention of all species names, as well as order and family names when suggested.
Point 5: Aedes species are in the family Culicidae. Aedine may be used as a group name, but I am not sure it is at all officially recognized since Diptera is not my study group.
Response 5: Reference to Aedine has been removed from this sentence.
Point 6: As observed by “Malanson et al.”
Response 6: The text has been modified as suggested.
Point 7: Page 4 lines 51-56, this sentence is way too long.
Response 7: This sentence has been modified and now reads:
“As described above, there are many environmental datasets available that can inform SDMs. However these datasets, at least those that are open access, are often of limited relevance in the context of IAVP distribution modeling, not least due to substantial mismatches between the spatial resolution at which predictions are made and the resolution at which the predictions are communicated or applied. For example, the spatial resolution of predictions are constrained by the environmental data resolution, which is typically in the order of kilometers, but the subsequent predictions are often used to inform actions applied at spatial scales in the order of meters, for example informing which residential streets or neighborhoods should be sprayed with insecticides or communicating to the public which urban parks may be invaded by ticks.”
Point 8: Likewise, a member of the Culicoides genus, Culicodes brevitarsis [Authority] (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) (also a vector of the bluetongue virus)
Response 8: We have modified the text and incorporated these suggestions:
“Likewise, the mortality of Culicoides brevitarsis [Kieffer, 1917] (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), a vector of the bluetongue virus, is high in the laboratory when temperatures are greater than 35°C, even if just for a few days [42].”
Point 9: Page 5 line 205, include (Diptera: Culicidae) next to genus name
Response 9: This information has been added to the text
Point 10: It is unclear if this figure is reproduced from paper 47 or if this is a newly constructed figure.
Response 10: The figure is new but uses previously reported data. We have modified the figure legend to clarify this:
“this figure was produced using data reported in [47]).”
Author Response File: Author Response.doc
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Thank you for the revisions, I think the manuscript reads very well now and will represent a significant contribution to the field.
Reviewer 3 Report
This manuscript looks much improved and I think is ready for publication once one typo is fixed. Page 11 has the word "course" when it should be "coarse" in the context of the sentence.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
