Les Mehrhoff
Friday, October 17, 2008 - 9:00-9:30
There are over 100 species of nonindigenous vascular plants considered to be invasive or potentially invasive within the 6 states that compose New England. In addition to this there is the possibility that an invasive species new to the region or an unknown potentially invasive plant might be discovered in New England and become established and aggressively persist. Early detection of a new incursion, coupled with a rapid assessment and a quick and effective strategic response, is viewed as one of the best and most cost-efficient ways of dealing with potentially invasive plants. The Invasive Plant Atlas of New England (IPANE) is a consortium that was created to obtain historic information for these taxa within New England, train volunteers, gather and disseminate current field data and support research, modeling, management, outreach, and education. Currently, IPANE has trained over 900 volunteers to gather data and to be the basis for our regional Early Detection network. Data gathered by the volunteers, (over 10,000 reports) coupled with those from herbarium surveys, are presented on the IPANE website (http://ipane.org) in tabular and comma-delineated form and as interactive distribution maps. Our data are maintained by NBII-funded partners at the Center for International Earth Science Information Networks (CIESIN). These data have been used for early detection, assessment, research, and predictive modeling. IPANE has established an Invasives Early Detection Alert Network for the northeast that includes New England and the Canadian Maritime Provinces and is being used as a national model for volunteer-based early detection.
Keywords: IPANE, EARLY DETECTION, NEW ENGLAND, TRAINED VOLUNTEERS