Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species - South Africa

Tammy Robinson; Philip Ivey; Leslie Powrie; Pieter Winter; Lian Jenna Wong; Shyama Pagad

doi:10.15468/l6smob

Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species - South Africa

Citation

Robinson T, Ivey P, Powrie L, Winter P, Wong L J, Pagad S (2020). Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species - South Africa. Version 2.7. Invasive Species Specialist Group ISSG. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/l6smob accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-12-13.

Description

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS) presents validated and verified national checklists of introduced (alien) and invasive alien species at the country, territory, and associated island level. Checklists are living entities, especially for biological invasions given the growing nature of the problem. GRIIS checklists are based on a published methodology and supported by the Integrated Publishing Tool that jointly enable ongoing improvements and updates to expand their taxonomic coverage and completeness. Phase 1 of the project focused on developing validated and verified checklists of countries that are Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Phase 2 aimed to achieve global coverage including non-party countries and all overseas territories of countries, e.g. those of the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom. All kingdoms of organisms occurring in all environments and systems are covered. Checklists are reviewed and verified by networks of country or species experts. Verified checklists/ species records, as well as those under review, are presented on the online GRIIS website (www.griis.org) in addition to being published through the GBIF Integrated Publishing Tool.

Purpose

The resource will be a support to countries to make progress to achieve Aichi Biodiversity Target 9 -in the development of their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans, their National Invasive Alien Species Strategy and Action Plan, target setting and monitoring.

Sampling Description

Study Extent

The geographic focus of this checklist is South Africa

Sampling

This annotated checklist is focused on introduced (alien) and invasive species that are known to occur in South Africa The International Union for Conservation of Nature, (IUCN) describes an Introduced/ Alien and Invasive alien species as follows:
An Introduced or Alien species means a species, subspecies, or lower taxon occurring outside of its natural range (past or present) and dispersal potential (i.e. outside the range it occupies naturally or could not occupy without direct or indirect introduction or care by humans) and includes any part, gametes or propagule of such species that might survive and subsequently reproduce. An Invasive Alien Species is an alien species which becomes established in natural or semi-natural ecosystems or habitat, is an agent of change, and threatens native biological diversity. In GRIIS, species are recorded as having an impact (as 'yes' under 'isInvasive') if there is evidence of the species negatively impacting biodiversity, and including species that are widespread, spreading rapidly or present in high abundance (Pagad et al. 2018). This usage is relevant to the purpose of GRIIS, and consistent with the concept of impact as formulated by Parker et al. (1999) and now widely used (e.g. Didham et al. 2005, Strayer et al. 2006, McGeoch et al. 2010, 2012, Vila et al. 2011), where impact is a function not only of the per capita effect of an individual organism, but is a combined function of the effect, abundance and range size of a species. Impact can of course be defined in different ways, driven by different objectives, such as its usage in EICAT where it is defined as a measurable change to the properties of an ecosystem caused by an alien taxon (Hawkins et al. 2015).

Quality Control

The draft checklist is compiled by collating data and information through a comprehensive literature overview. Additional steps implemented to control the quality of the data are described below. Taxonomic harmonization and normalization using the GBIF taxonomic backbone To harmonize all species names across countries, species lists are subjected to a normalization process in which taxon rank and taxonomic status are identified and assigned. Spelling and other errors in assigning species authorship are also corrected. Data validation The Project Personnel complete a review and validate all the annotations, especially those on provenance and 'invasive' status of the species based on evidence of impact. Data verification The checklist is submitted to a network of country editors for a review of both accuracy of records, annotations, and identification of any significant gaps in the data. Data verification is an iterative process and the activity for a particular version is declared complete on agreement of all relevant country editors (see versioning details below). One of the key tenets of the GRIIS project has been engagement with country editors in the verification process and as custodians of country checklists. While this has been possible in the majority of countries, for a small number of countries this engagement process has not succeeded in delivering a verified checklist. In these cases, the GRIIS Project Personnel have completed the validation of the species records but continue to work towards identifying country experts.

Method steps

Data collation and categorization Data filtering and categorization/ classification Taxonomic harmonization and normalization Data validation Data verification
The published methods underpinning GRIIS and each checklist are described in Pagad et al 2018.

Additional info

Versioning The GRIIS checklists are dynamic and reflect the latest known status of alien and invasive species presence and impacts. The original versions of each country checklist (v1.0) undergo two potential types of updates: 1. Major updates: These happen when batches of new species or records become available, usually addressing multiple taxonomic groups simultaneously. Each checklist is assigned a new version number after a major update (e.g. from v1.0 to v2.0). 2. Incremental updates: These are smaller ongoing updates involving the addition of new species or records based on new publications as well as taxonomic or other updates. Incremental updates to a checklist are associated with a subversion number, e.g. v1.1. The checklist version number is visible/available on the citation.

Taxonomic Coverages

Animalia, Bacteria, Chromista, Fungi, Plantae, Protozoa, Viruses

Animalia
rank: kingdom
Bacteria
rank: kingdom
Chromista
rank: kingdom
Fungi
rank: kingdom
Plantae
rank: kingdom
Protozoa
rank: kingdom
Viruses
rank: kingdom

Geographic Coverages

South Africa

Bibliographic Citations

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Pagad S, Genovesi P, Carnevali L, Schigel D, McGeoch MA (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data, 5, 170202. https://www.nature.com/articles/sdata2017202 -
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Contacts

Tammy Robinson
originator
Department of Botany and Zoology
ZA
email: trobins@sun.ac.za

Philip Ivey
originator
position: Programme Leader
Invasive Species Programme Sponsored by the Working for Water Programme, Natural Resource Management Branch, Department of Environmental Affairs SANBI
ZA
email: P.Ivey@sanbi.org.za

Leslie Powrie
originator
position: Deputy Director
Information Technology Advisory Services, South African National Biodiversity Institute
ZA
email: L.Powrie@sanbi.org.za

Pieter Winter
originator
South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI)
ZA
email: P.Winter@sanbi.org.za

Lian Jenna Wong
originator
position: Research Assistant
Biodiversity Data Management Ltd.
NZ
email: biodivdatamgt@gmail.com

Shyama Pagad
originator
position: Deputy Chair Information
IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG)
NZ
email: s.pagad@auckland.ac.nz

Shyama Pagad
metadata author
position: Deputy Chair Information
IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG)
NZ
email: s.pagad@auckland.ac.nz

Shyama Pagad
author
position: Programme Officer
IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG)
NZ
email: s.pagad@auckland.ac.nz

Shyama Pagad
administrative point of contact
position: Deputy Chair Information
IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG)
NZ
email: s.pagad@auckland.ac.nz