virToad : Giving scientists and conservation managers an edge over cane toad invasions

<p>Arman Pili's submission to Visualise Your Thesis 2022 competition. In this video, Arman describes the 1st part of his PhD chapters -- <em><strong>virToad</strong></em>, a state-of-the-art life-history simulator of the cane toad.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Transcript: </p> <p><br></p> <p>"Invasive Alien Species are non-native animals and plants whose invasions wreak havoc on the environment and societies. A globally notorious alien invader is the cane toad. Wherever it goes, a cane toad brings weapons of environmental destruction — poison packed on its shoulders.In Australia, the cane toad’s invasion has poisoned and killed millions of wildlife, pushing them to extinction.</p> <p><br></p> <p>To aid in the fight against cane toad invasions, I designed <em><strong>virToad </strong></em>— a computer simulation game where the player’s mission is to develop the most efficient and low-cost strategy for controlling cane toad invasions. By playing virToad, wildlife conservationists can make informed management decisions.</p> <p><br></p> <p>But ultimately, anyone can play virToad, so they can understand and be inspired to join the fight against cane toad invasions and conserve our wildlife."</p> <p><br></p> <p>virToad is described in detail in:   </p> <p>Pili, A. N., Tingley, R., Chapple, D. G., and Schumaker, N. (2022). virToad: simulating the spatiotemporal population dynamics and management of a global invader. <em>Landscape Ecology</em>. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-022-01468-y</p> <p><br></p> <p>Arman is also competing in the Monash University round of 3MT. There, he will talk about the 2nd part of his PhD thesis -- forecasting invaders and invasions for biosecurity. (THIS IS NOT VIRTOAD).</p>