about marineID

Background and Project Goals

The introduction of marine invasive species is causing increasing concern among scientists and natural resource managers around the world. These introduced organisms are transported via commercial shipping, as fouling organisms on recreational boats, through the release of unwanted aquarium contents, or a variety of other transport vectors related to human activities. Because they have few natural controls in their new environments, these species have great potential for rapid colonization and spread. Marine invasive species are having significant impacts on the biodiversity and integrity of marine habitats across the globe

The increasing threats from marine biological invasions have led scientists and natural resource managers to intensify marine invasive species monitoring efforts in the Northeastern US and Atlantic Canada. These short and long term biological monitoring programs provide information on species distributions, dispersal rates and mechanisms, and impacts. This information is essential for the effective management of marine invaders in the region (figure 1).

Figure 1: Geographic coverage of the MarineID system.

The Marine Invader Database has been developed in response to the need for a collective approach to marine invasive species data management. MarineID will serve as a central repository and clearinghouse for marine invasive species occurrence data in the region, allowing scientists and managers to contribute data online, download relevant information, and visualize changes in species distributions through time.

System capabilities

MarineID has several key functions. The first is to provide information on marine invaders currently established in the Northeast region. Species information, such as life history, native range, and ecological impacts, can be viewed on the species profile page (link). A second function of MarineID is to display the location of marine invasive species occurrences as reported by organizations collecting biological monitoring data in marine systems. Information stored in the occurrence database (figure 2) can be viewed by clicking on the “Species Distribution page.” Viewing the species distribution page requires that you download a free copy of Autodesk MapGuide viewer (link).

Figure 2. A conceptual model for the Marine Invader Database.

The utility and functionality of the MarineID system will depend on the integration of high quality, up-to-date information. MarineID will provide a way for those involved in biological monitoring efforts to submit data online. All data must pass through a series of quality assurance standards (link to page that we’ll develop- maybe to a “this page is under construction page) prior to integration into the systems. The MarineID project team is working to build an invasive species monitoring network for the Northwest Atlantic. For more information on becoming a part of this network, click on the “join the network” (link) page.

MarineID will serve not only as a storage facility for marine invasive species information, but also as a data clearinghouse. Users can download species distribution data as a text file from the species distribution page by clicking on the “download data” button the left of the map on the “species distribution page” (link).

Partners

MarineID has been developed by the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (www.state.ma.us/cam) in partnership with the Marine Invertebrate Diversity Initiative (link), and Environment Canada (link). Funding for this effort has been provided by NOAA Sea Grant (http://www.nsgo.seagrant.org/) and the Northeast Aquatic Nuisance Species Panel (www.NortheastANS.org). The international partnerships developed through the MarineID initiative will ensure broad support form scientists throughout the region, and make available a variety of technical resources to the MarineID project team.

Contact Information

For more information of the MarineID systems, please contact us at marineID@NortheastANS.org.