14 
Bioconirol agents—natural enemies of 
plani pests—are identified, collected, 
and released by PPQ employees. 
(APHIS phoio by Laurie Smith.) 
1980, PPQ and APHIS took on the 
job of placing those beneficial 
wasps across the United States. 
By 1989, PPQ, APHIS, and its 
cooperaiors had raised and 
distributed about 17 million wasps. 
Today these beneficial wasps are 
within reach of virtually every 
alfalfa field in the country. Other 
PPQ biocontrol programs currently 
underway in cooperation with 
State agencies include efforts 
against the cereal leaf beetle. 
sweet potato whitefly, Russian 
wheat aphid, euonymus scale, 
brown citrus aphid, leafy spurge, 
diffuse and spotted knapweed, and 
purple loosestrife. 
sam tion to its biocontrol 
ms, PPQ also has programs 
t monitor and manage estab- 
lished plant pests and invasive 
species like boll weevil, gypsy 
moth, and noxious weeds. To 
monitor plant pests, PPQ works 
with the States in a project called 
the Cooperative Agricultural Pest 
Survey (CAPS). Survey informa- 
tion on insects and plant diseases 
is entered into a nationwide data 
base, the National Agricultural 
Pest Information System (NAPIS). 
Information from this data base 
can be accessed from anywhere in 
the country by persons with an 
authorized account. PPQ has also 
used the CAPS program to 
conduct ongoing surveys for alien 
invasive species. 
By accessing NAPIS, users can 
retrieve the latest data on pests. 
NAPIS data can assist in pest 
forecasting, early pest warning, 
quicker and more precise delimit- 
ing efforts, and better planning for 
plant pest eradication or control 
efforts. Survey data—which can 
reflect the absence as well as the 
presence of pests—also help U.S. 
exports, assuring foreign countries 
that our commodities are free of 
specific pests and diseases. More 
than a million records are in the 
NAPIS data base. About 200 
Federal and State agencies use 
NAPIS. lis data can be down- 
loaded and analyzed with geo- 
graphic information systems to 
provide graphic representation of 
information. For example, loca- 
tions of pine shoot beetle detec- 
tions can be shown graphically to 
indicate where and how often 
surveys have been conducted for 
the beetle. 
PPQ carries out several coopera- 
tive programs against domestic 
