Project description

Invasive Alien Species Tracker (IASTracker) is an application used to locate invasive species, whether animal or plant, initially in Catalonia and Belgium, but adaptable to any other region of Europe. The user feedback can be managed, viewed and controlled from the Geoportal IASTracker.

One of the main reasons for the loss of biodiversity in the world is the proliferation of invasive alien species. This problem has been studied for many years by many experts, environmental institutions and organizations. Although the impacts of these species are well known, it is often difficult to know their expansion, distribution and especially the first contaminated spot in a spared area. Several studies argue that preventive measures have to be set up to improved the knowledge of the location of an invasive species and its extension.

IASTracker aims to achieve any type of public, expert or not, with the common goal of helping to reduce the negative impacts of invasive species on biodiversity, health and economy of the affected areas.

The IASTracker App works offline, so when the user does not have data connection on his Smartphone, by prior downloading records of species in its zone, he can continue to locate invasive species nearby.

Invasive species described in the application were selected according to two criteria: the first is the ease of identification to allow non-expert users to fully participate in the project and the second criterion is that the chosen species have a strong negative impact on biodiversity, health and economy. The selection is not a closed list, it is expected that it can be modified according to the evolution of a particular species and depending on the geographical area where the observer is located.

IASTracker is one of the winners of the first MYGEOSS contest for innovative applications in environmental and social areas supported by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. The latter has funded us for the development of IASTracker App. MYGEOSS is a two-years project to develop useful free applications based on observation systems for citizens to inform them of the changes that occur in their environment.

If you want to cooperate with IASTracker, please contact us via the following email: info@iastracker.ic5team.org

Resources

The main resources used for the preparation of descriptive sheets of the application are:

CABI, 2015. Reports of invasive species. Wallingford, UK: CAB International. www.cabi.org/isc

Global Database on invasive species: http://www.issg.org/database

Department of Land, Sustainable Development and Environment, 2015 http://mediambient.gencat.cat/ca

Harmonia Database 2015. Belgian Forum on Invasive Species. http://ias.biodiversity.be

Other sources consulted are cited in the descriptive sheets of species.

Citation

To cite IASTracker, use the following text:

IASTracker, year. Invasive Alien Species Tracker www.iastracker.ic5team.org

Acknowledgments

This application has been developed within the MyGEOSS project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

The JRC, or as the case may be the European Commission, shall not be held liable for any direct or indirect, incidental, consequential or other damages, including but not limited to the loss of data, loss of profits, or any other financial loss arising from the use of this application, or inability to use it, even if the JRC is notified of the possibility of such damages.

Thanks to the European Union and the cooperation of Geological and Cartographic Institute of Catalonia.