Tuesday, August 25, 2009

NBII Represented at International Symposium on Invasive Plants

NBII's Northeast Information Node (NIN) manager Marcia McNiff attended "Invasive Plants in the Northeast of Asia and America: Trading Problems, Trading Solutions," an international symposium on invasive plants sponsored by and held at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT on August 10-12, 2009. The invited participants included scientists from the U.S., Japan, South Korea, China and far eastern Russia, with interests in both pure and applied research related to invasive species biology. Selected scientists and policy makers from U.S. and Asian government agencies were also invited. A number of scientific papers and posters presented at the symposium featured research conducted using data from the Invasive Plant Atlas of New England (IPANE), a partner organization of NBII’s Northeast Information Node (NIN) and Invasive Species Information Node (ISIN).

(Photo: Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii ). Photographer, Leslie J. Mehrhoff, Director of IPANE)

Monday, August 17, 2009

New NBII Search Debut

The week of August 10, the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) launched a new search engine. The new NBII search is designed to support the discovery of and provide access to critical national and global biological information and data. The new NBII search engine is based on the Vivisimo Velocity search platform and features dynamic clustering, faceted searching, extensive source control, integration with the NBII LIFE image library, and the ability to simultaneously search critical global and national biodiversity resources such as the Global Biological Information Facility (GBIF), Amphibiaweb, and the Missouri Botanical’s TROPICOS database. The new NBII search supports flexible information acquisition through web site/database crawling and real time federated resource searching. Finally, the new NBII search supports the custom development of multiple information indexes, geospatial integration with Google Maps, visualization, and flexible control over search result displays. The new NBII search is available on the NBII Portal at http://www.nbii.gov/.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

NBII Represented at National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC) Eastern Regional Workshop

Northeast Information Node (NIN) manager Marcia McNiff and Biological Information Specialist Bernadette LeMasters represented the NBII at the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC) Eastern Regional Workshop held at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center May 6-7. During the breakout sessions, they participated in the Northeast and Southeast discussions respectively, and had the opportunity to meet with colleagues from a number of organizations located across the Eastern part of the country. Regional Workshops for the Central and Western regions were held in June.

Summaries from the three regional workshops are available on the Center’s Web site:

NCCWSC Eastern Workshop Summary (PDF, 28 KB)

NCCWSC Western Workshop Summary (PDF, 28 KB)

NCCWSC Centeral Workshop Summary (PDF, 28 KB)

(photo by John Mossesso)

National Early Detection Network Presented at the Consortium of Northeast Herbaria Cactus Moth Found in Louisiana

Invasive Species Information Node (ISIN) partners at the Mississippi State University (MSU) Geosystems Research Institute, as coordinators of the Cactus Moth Early Detection and Monitoring System, reported that the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine has confirmed the presence of the moth in Louisiana, its most western known location in North America, to date. Adult moths were captured at scent-baited traps and sent to MSU for identification. As a follow-up, monitoring has been increased in the region. Training in cactus moth identification will also take place in Louisiana as part of an effort to step up detection efforts in the hopes to facilitate effective control. Maps of moth and host cactus distribution are available online.

Southeastern Species in Greatest Need of Conservation

To address the broad conservation needs of the southeast, the Southern Appalachian Information Node (SAIN) compiled GCN species lists from eight Southeastern U.S. states - Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi - into interactive species information. The species are searchable by species group (taxa) - amphibian, bird, fish, mammal and reptile - or by state and provide live information such as distribution, taxonomy, habitat, and images from a variety of resources.

Data sources include:
Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)
NatureServe
Google
State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP)
GAP Analysis Data
NBII ClearingHouse Metadata
Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Discover Life's New Online Journal


Invasive Species Information Node (ISIN) partner Discover Life has launched an online journal called Proceedings of Life that is interactive, peer-reviewed, and free to all users. It will provide authors with a means to get academic credit and a permanent scientific citation for building and maintaining high-quality databases on the Web. The publication will use natural language processing and other software tools to allow authors to process documents and databases rapidly into interactive publications. Invasive species, taxonomy, and climate change are just a few of the areas that are anticipated to fall within the scope of this data-rich journal.