Applications of dynamic programming and other optimization methods in pest management

Pest management is a multistage decision process in a stochastic and observable system. A control model of a pest ecosystem is characterized by discontinuous cost functions and nonlinear, stochastic state equations describing the interactions among a large namber of ecosystem components. Dynamic programming has been the optimization technique which has been most widely applied to pest management analysis, but several other optimization methods have also proven useful. This paper reviews a number of data-based applications of optimization methods to pest management. The comparative advantages of alternative optimization methods are discussed.