MODELS for Invasive Species

On this page, we list invasive species modeling resources.

There are many tools that can be used to predict the invasion potential of a species, and where that species is likely to invade or establish a viable, reproductive population. Some researchers map species in their native habitat, and use that information to develop models of other areas that the species might invade because the other areas have the same types of habitat.

Invasive species sightings submitted through reporting systems can be used to generate geographic information systems (GIS), maps and models that can indicate the likely spread of a species along a pathway, such as a river that carries the seeds of the salt cedar tree to new locations downstream.

Invasive species distributions can also be predicted by looking at where the species are in relation to a place or habitat you want to protect.

Alerts, watch lists, and listservs allow researchers and members of the public to receive and exchange information about new species sightings. This helps us protect habitats from the spread of invasive species.

Cerro Grande Wildfire / Weed Mapping (NIISS)

The ISIN's partner, the National Institute for Invasive Species Science (NIISS) is working with NASA to create spatial models that use remotely sensed data, field-sampled data, and geostatistical modeling to describe landscape-scale patterns of plant diversity and exotic invasions on the Cerro Grande Wildfire Site, Los Alamos, New Mexico. The number of invasive species was found to be correlated with areas of high native species richness. To learn more about this project, please visit the Cerro Grande Wildfire Site - part of NASA's Invasive Species Forecasting System.

Wild Boar Control in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The ISIN partner University of Tennesse Chattanooga (UTC) geographic information systems (GIS) research laboratory, working in tandem with wildlife management officers from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP), has begun to use GIS to examine twenty-six years of park service efforts to control populations of an invasive species, the exotic European wild boar (Sus scrofa Linneaus). View a powerpoint presentation that further details these research efforts.

Hint! To view a larger version of this map, click on the image below.

Leafy Spurge Modeling presentation (NIISS)

The Colorado State University's Natural Resources and Ecology Laboratory (NREL) and the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station Leafy Spurge Modelling presentation (PPT).

US/China Invasive Species Modeling and Monitoring

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References on Invasive Species Modeling

> A Weed Manager's Guide to Remote Sensing and GIS (USDA Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center). Resources to Predict Areas Susceptible to Invasion:

- Adapt an Existing Model (PDF)
- Build a New Susceptibility Model (PDF)

... and Predict Weed Spread:

- Adapt an Existing Weed Spread Model (PDF)
- Build a New Weed Spread Model (PDF)

> Modelling the Spread of Invasive Species - Parameter Estimation Using Cellular Automata in GIS (V. Cole, J. Albrecht, Univ. of Auckland, NZ) (PDF)

> Modelling Invasive Species in River Systems - A Study of Monkey Flower (A. Truscott, P. Hulme, L. Newell, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Natural Environment Research Council, UK) (PDF)

> Development of a Food Web Model (DOVE - Digital Organisms in a Virtual Ecosystem) to Examine Problems Concerning Invasive Species (S. Peacor, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory)

> Sampling Designs and Statistical Models for Estimating the Occurrence, Spread, and Imperfect Detection of an Invasive Species (2004. R. Dorazio, USGS Florida Integrated Science Center and J. A. Royle, USFWS Division of Migratory Bird Management) (PDF)

> Competition Model for Two Exotic Species and One Native Species (D. Kern, Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications, Univ. Minnesota) (PDF)

> Predicting the Potential Invasive Distributions of Four Alien Plant Species in North America (Weed Science 51:863-868, 2003) (PDF)

> Remote Sensing and GIS Applications for Mapping and Spatial Modelling of Invasive Species (Chudamani Joshi, Jan de Leeuw, Iris C. van Duren, 2004) (PDF)

> UK Centre for Life Sciences Modeling (University of Newcastle, UK)

• Modelling the Dynamics of Water Vole Populations in Relation to Mink Predation and Habitat Fragmentation
• Predicting Grey Squirrel Expansion in North Italy

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