Controlling invasive, non-native plants is essential to the protection of Florida's biodiversity. Introduced species can displace native plants and animals, change the structure of natural communities, and impact the ecological functions of ecosystems.

FNAI is contributing to the control of invasive plants by developing The Florida Invasive Plants Geodatabase (FLInv) to map exotic plant infestations on public conservation lands in Florida. FLInv is populated with existing data submitted by resource managers and supplemented by FNAI field surveys. Mapping invasive infestations is important because it allows development of management strategies which make the most efficient use of control resources.

Land managers are encouraged to submit data for inclusion in FLINV.

Contributing Data

Following FLInv standards each invasive plant infestation for a species is represented by a spatial feature (a polygon, line or point) and an associated set of tabular attributes. To accommodate contributors’ time constraints and technical capabilities, FNAI accepts this data in a variety of formats. All of the materials necessary to prepare data for submission are contained in the FLINV_Data_Collection zip file which can be downloaded below. The FLINV_Read_ Me.txt file within the zip file describes the purpose of each of the files in the package.

DOWNLOAD FLINV_Data_Collection.zip (457 KB). (You may need to download the latest version of Adobe Reader to view the pdf documents.)

To simplify processing, FNAI prefers data in the following formats:

Best:		GIS Shapefiles prepared using FLInv data dictionary, ArcPad forms or shapefile templates. Polygons or lines are preferred over points except when mapping extremely small infestations.
Great:		Maps with infestations drawn as polygons or lines, with point coordinates and attributes for all features in an accompanying Excel file prepared using the FLInv Spreadsheet Template.
Good:		Maps with infestations drawn as polygons or lines, with point coordinates and attributes for all features on accompanying data sheets prepared using the FLInv Field Survey Form
Acceptable:		FLInv Field Survey Forms filled out with coordinates and attributes of infestation points.
The Minimum:		Any other data format including at minimum a location, plant name, and survey date of invasive plant infestations.

E-mail complete datasets to the FLInv Invasives Data Coordinator.

Please Note: FNAI shares invasive plant data with the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council (FLEPPC) EDDMapS, if you send data to FNAI, you don't have to send it to FLEPPC too.

Viewing and Downloading Existing Data

Data from the FLInv geodatabase for species designated as Category I and II Invasives by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council can be viewed on the iMapInvasives webpage at iMapInvasives. FNAI is one of the founding partners of iMapInvasives, a cooperative project to develop a national on-line, GIS-based, all-taxa invasive species mapping tool.

The file geodatabase and shapefiles of the database contents are updated quarterly and are available for download below. A file geodatabase is the preferred format for ArcGIS 9.2 and above users. For more information on geodatabases, please visit ESRI's website. Polygon and point files contain distinct datasets with no duplication of infestations. The metadata provides a detailed description of the feature classes and shapefiles.

Download Data

File geodatabase with metadata (the preferred format for ArcGIS users - must have version 9.2 or above)		FLINV_FileGDB_20110517.zip		(18.1 MB)
Shapefiles (with metadata)		FLINV_shp_20110517.zip		(32.5 MB)
Point feature metadata		FLINVpt_20110517.htm		(37 KB)
Polygon feature metadata		FLINVpoly_20110517.htm		(38 KB)

For more information on data contribution or specific data requests, or to discuss an invasive plant survey on public conservation lands, please call FNAI at 850-224-8207.

Publications

Lygodium Statewide Treatment Evaluation Report A report on treatment recommendations for invasive climbing ferns.

Support

This project is funded by the Invasive Plant Management Section within the Division of Habitat and Species Conservation of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.