Joint Press Release - December, 2007

Celebrating the Past and Looking to the Future: Five years of successful partnership between the Invasive Species Specialist Group and the US National Biological Information Infrastructure

We're celebrating five successful years of partnership! We’ve quadrupled the number of invasive species profiles in our database. We've created a mirror Web site for fast, easy, worldwide access to find information on problem invasives. We've got new tools for searching for and sharing alien species information globally. And we've revamped the Global Invasive Species Database to make it easier for you to use.

Who are we? We are the U.S. Geological Survey's National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) and the World Conservation Union Species Survival Commission's Invasive Species Specialist Group. Five years ago, we formally launched a partnership to provide free information about invasive alien species to resource managers and others. We think our collaboration has produced impressive results, including tools for sharing alien species information around the world.

"Effective invasive species information management can only be achieved through collaboration," said Mark Myers, director of the USGS. "That is why we are so proud of the NBII's partnership with the IUCN's Invasive Species Specialist Group, as well as the results of that partnership: vital information about invasives freely available on the Web."

Our two organizations share a vision of providing a globally accessible, primary source of free and vital information on invasive species ecology, biology, and management on the Web. We are developing even more technologies, protocols, and practices to better share invasive species knowledge and advances in invasive species informatics.

Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha), seen here clinging to a clam shell, are now established in the UK, Western Europe, Canada and the USA. They compete with zooplankton for food, thus affecting natural food webs. Read more in the Global Invasive Species Database. Photo: Randy Westbrooks (United States Geological Survey). Source: www.bugwood.org

Central to our success has been the refurbishing of the Global Invasive Species Database, which has enabled specialists to access a lot more information about invasive species. More than 100 new species profiles are being added each year, allowing visitors from around the world to find invasive species information that is more relevant to their needs. As a result of the heavy traffic at this site, we have added a mirror Web site hosted in Denver, Colorado, allowing users from both hemispheres to have quicker access to the information found in the Global Invasive Species Database.

"Effective invasive species information management can only be achieved through collaboration," said Mark Myers, director of the USGS. "That is why we are so proud of the NBII's partnership with the IUCN's Invasive Species Specialist Group, as well as the results of that partnership: vital information about invasives freely available on the Web."

This five year anniversary celebration not only commemorates these accomplishments, but it also recognizes the potential of this partnership to provide even more timely information to users in the future. As a first step toward this, the NBII and ISSG plan to enhance this invasive species database by integrating it into the Global Invasive Species Information Network, which is a tool that allows users to perform cross-searches among different online invasive species information systems.

Our joint vision for the future includes continued participation in global working groups implementing information and technology standards to more effectively share biodiversity information, and to identify meaningful invasive species indicators as measurements of progress toward completing the Convention on Biological Diversity's 2010 Biodiversity Target.

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