Mission


Project Invasives is a citizen science project targeted at documenting all invasive species in the San Francisco Bay Area to better mitigate distruption and inform desicision making.

observations

Observations are defined as either data collected in the field by our volunteers, or as data brought in from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Data collected by our volunteers is piped into this application on a one day* delay. GBIF data is brought in monthly on the 1st.

species reported

Species data is collected and processed acording to standards set by the California Invasive Species Advisory Committee (CISAC). This species list is used to filter our data to only records which represent officially invasive species. This list can be found here: CISAC.

km² analyzed

Data are aggregated into the counties which touch the SF Bay - this area is commonly referred to as the Bay Area. The Bay itself is split into a North and South, as is the Coast. This is the extent at which we collect and process our data, and the extent at which statistics are derived.

Invasive species are animals or plants from another region of the world that don’t belong in their new environment. They can be introduced to an area by ship ballast water, accidental release, and most often, by people. Invasive species can lead to the extinction of native plants and animals, destroy biodiversity, and permanently alter habitats.

- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Deriving meaningful statistics

The current extent of our study area can be seen here, along with the three summary statistics outlined above, by county or water area.

The statistics seen here are only to give the public & community leaders a general idea of the numbers of species seen in their area, as well as an idea of how many observations our database has near them. For more in-depth analysis and comparisons, as well as a break out of the species near you, check out the official dashboard here:

An invasive species can be any kind of living organism—an amphibian (like the cane toad), plant, insect, fish, fungus, bacteria, or even an organism’s seeds or eggs—that is not native to an ecosystem and causes harm. They can harm the environment, the economy, or even human health. Species that grow and reproduce quickly, and spread aggressively, with potential to cause harm, are given the label “invasive.”

- The National Wildlife Federation

Donate

This project is a community effort completely ran by volunteers using open source software. With that said there are hosting and data processing costs associated with this project, please consider making a small donating to help support this project into the future:

This projects goal is to help decision makers better understand the range and abundance of invasive species to better target species which:

  1. Have the potential to be eradicated.
  2. Are particularly harmful to the environment.
  3. Are new or are particularly agressive.

These efforts help add to the body of knowledge at planners disposal and further our knowledge of invasives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

How you can help

Besides making a donation (which you totally should!), you can also survey your local neighborhood for invasive species using the link at the top of this page. The species you can report are from a filtered list of species published by the California Invasive Species Advisory Committee (CISAC). The CISAC list used in this application is filtered to only non-disease species with reported presence in the state. The complete CISAC list can be found here: CISAC.

Certain species in our database are flagged as rare or of great concern. In the situation that the species you're reporting falls into this category, please include contact information on the species report (although it is not required), and please also take a photo. If the species is of concern, a Project Invasives moderator will reach out to you.

But remember, even invasive species that are quite common are still important to report, as they help keep the information we have up-to-date and fill gaps in our knowledge of these pesky invaders.

How to survey

When you launch our survey application you will see a form like the screenshot shown here. This form can be used offline, simply load the page before going out into the field, and submit the page once returning to service. Need to submit more than one record? No problem, simply press the submit button and that record will be saved to your browsers memory. Fill out as many records as you need and submit all of them at in one go once you return to service.

We are using "cascading dropdowns" for filtering occurrence types. What this means for you is as you are filling out the form, first you will be asked the species type, then its subtype before getting down to the species level. This methodology follows the structure set by the California Invasive Species Advisory Committee (CISAC). Please refer to their website for a complete list of invasive species and their scientific names.

Use the link below to submit observations.