Invasive species and global climate change.

Chapter 12 (Page no: 225)

Identifying invasive species in real time: Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System (EDDMapS) and other mapping tools.

Historically, the documentation of native and non-native species distributions was limited to herbaria records, textbooks and field guides. Distribution maps were updated infrequently and the resulting information was often inaccessible. Recently, as public awareness of invasive species has increased, professional and citizen science-based monitoring and management programs have grown, leading to the collection of large amounts of data across disparate databases. The central focus of the Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System (EDDMapS) is to foster the collection, amalgamation and sharing of these data to show a more complete map of the threat of invasive species and how this issue impacts the nation as a whole. Incorporating data from a variety of sources can raise issues with standardization, privacy and ownership, but these issues can be resolved with proper planning and policies regarding data sharing. With the advancement of technology and interest in its utilization for scientific research and public outreach, tracking invasive species is easier, and results can be accessed and distributed to both researchers and the general public. Smartphones have increased the accessibility of information, and as applications have become more central to smartphone use, invasive species programs have secured funding for application development for the identification, reporting and management of target invasive species. This has increased the reporting of invasive species by citizen scientists and the general public, and has encouraged timely reporting, verification and management by early detection and rapid-response programs. Training citizen scientists and establishing data-collection standards can encourage data-collection, which can aid researchers in modeling invasive species range changes in response to a variety of factors, including climate change. As funding and public awareness increase the utilization of technology for invasive species documentation, more and better tools will be developed for invasive species management.

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