Validation of arthropod sampling plans using a resampling approach: Software and analysis

Many sampling plans have been developed for a wide variety of arthropods of economic importance. However, relatively few plans have been tested adequately to gauge their utility in the field. The software presented here should facilitate a validation approach in which actual field data sets are resampled numerous times to arrive at average performance values and associated variances. The major strength of this resampling approach is that analyses are based on actual sampling distributions of arthropod populations, not those specified by a theoretical model. A limitation is that this approach does require additional planning and effort to collect an adequate number of independent data sets. The software (Resampling for Validation of Sample Plans [RVSP])can be used to test 2 fixed-precision sequential sampling plans based on enumerative counts and 2 (1 sequential and 1 fixed) sampling plans based on binomial counts. The software is user friendly and permits easy entry of sample plan parameters and data sets. We present details of the required input data and output generated by RVSP. We further provide example analyses for 3 pest insect species to demonstrate the use of RVSP for evaluating several different sampling plans.