1. Results of a Needs Assessment Survey of the Global Invasive Species Information Network Biodiversity Information Standards- Taxonomic Databases Working Group 17 September 2007 Annie Simpson, Jim Graham, Michael Browne, Hannu Saarenmaa, Elizabeth Sellers Contact email: asimpson@usgs.gov

2. Successful species info sharing needs DATA STANDARDS Controlled terminology – thesauri Standardized database fields Definition and standardization of the “Invasive Species Profile” Registries or other service discovery mechanisms

3. (IAS) Species Profile Data Standard NBII/ISSG collaboration for a schema for the Global Invasive Species Database Funding from CBD secretariat to Michael Browne for further development of the IAS-PS Powerful yet simple Useful in diverse realms for diverse taxa Adaptable to regional or other specific needs IAS = invasive alien species NBII =National Biological Info Infrastructure CBD = Convention on Biological Diversity IAS-PS = Invasive Alien Species Profile Schema ISSG = Invasive Species Specialist Group

4. GISIN Information System HerbariumsMuseums Invasive Databases Inspection Databases PortalsModelersSearch Engines Users Consumers (Clients) End-Users (Public) Providers (of Data) Based on graphic by Jim Graham GISIN Portal GISIN Registry GISIN system (Web services)

5. User Needs Analyses Requested Use Case Scenarios (posted here) http://wiki.tdwg.org/twiki/bin/view/Invasiv eSpecies/UserScenariosAndUseCases http://wiki.tdwg.org/twiki/bin/view/Invasiv eSpecies/UserScenariosAndUseCases Ran Needs Assessment Survey, administered Dec ‘06 - Feb ‘07 by the Keystone Center

6. Needs Assessment Distribution Aliens-L Listserv GISIN Listserv ASEAN invasive species meeting participants TDWG ISIS members Friends of all the above

7. Needs Assessment Respondents 137 respondents from 41 countries Vast majority identified themselves as both providers and consumers of IAS data Information they provide: Spatial/temporal info (77%) Profiles/species pages (65%) Checklist info (59%) IAS = Invasive Alien Species

8. Spatial/temporal info sought Date of observation (91%) Name or type of location (83%) Spatial coordinates (75%)

9. Species profile info sought Life history/ecology Habitat descriptions Impacts Geographic range Pathway info images Management info Descriptions References Requirements/ tolerances Info unique to invasive species science

10. Respondents search by… To filter or search for spatial/temporal information, species profiles, and checklist information, virtually all respondents (93-96%) use scientific name.

11. Knowledge gaps Level of web services their organization provides and/or uses (50% don’t know) What existing protocols are appropriate for IAS info management (80% don’t know) What schemas or grammars are acceptable to copy or extend for the proposed system (75% don’t know) IAS = Invasive Alien Species

12. Preferred Internet framework Many said ‘none, make it seamless and web-based’ ASP (57%) Java (51%) PHP (39%) PHP = PHP Hypertext Preprocessor; open source and designed for producing dynamic Web pages “Open source” cross-platform language based on C & C ++ ASP = Active Server Pages; proprietary; Microsoft’s server-side script engine for dynamically-generated web pages

13. Summary Standards are required for effective invasive species information sharing In biodiversity science, some standards have been too complex for adoption by many users GEO, NBII, NASA, I3N, GISIN, and TDWG are working toward capacity building and broad agreement on simpler standards GEO = Group on Earth Observations NBII =US National Biological Information Infrastructure NASA = US National Aeronautics & Space Administration I3N = Invasives Information Network of the Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network GISIN = Global Invasive Species Information Network

14. Reference Documents Results of Needs Assessment Survey: http://www.gisinetwork.org http://www.gisinetwork.org Current version of the schema: http://gentoo.cs.umb.edu/svn/GISIN/ http://gentoo.cs.umb.edu/svn/GISIN/ Technical documentation: http://monsoon.nrel.colostate.edu/cwis438/web sites/GISINDirectory/ http://monsoon.nrel.colostate.edu/cwis438/web sites/GISINDirectory/ Wiki to discuss the schema and tech docs: http://wiki.tdwg.org/InvasiveSpecies http://wiki.tdwg.org/InvasiveSpecies