Vision of a cyberinfrastructure for nonnative, invasive species management

Abstract

Although the quantity of data on the location, status, and management of invasive species is ever increasing, invasive species data sets are often difficult to obtain and integrate. A cyberinfrastructure for such information could make these data available for Internet users. The data can be used to create regional watch lists, to send e-mail alerts when a new species enters a region, to construct models of species' current and future distributions, and to inform management. Although the exchange of environmental data over the Internet in the form of raster data is maturing, and the exchange of species occurrence data is developing quickly, there is room for improvement. In this article, we present a vision for a comprehensive invasive species cyberinfrastructure that is capable of accessing data effectively, creating models of invasive species spread, and distributing this information.