1018 Thomasville Road
Suite 200-C
Tallahassee, FL 32303
Phone: (850) 224-8207
Fax: (850) 681-9364
Florida Resources and
Environmental Analysis Center
at the Institute of Science
and Public Affairs
A Network Connecting Science with Conservation
Controlling invasive, non-native plants is essential to the protection of Florida's biodiversity. Introduced species can displace native plants and animals, change the structure of natural communities, and impact the ecological functions of ecosystems.
FNAI is contributing to the control of invasive plants by developing The Florida Invasive Plants Geodatabase (FLInv) to map exotic plant infestations on public conservation lands in Florida. FLInv is populated with existing data submitted by resource managers and supplemented by FNAI field surveys. Mapping invasive infestations is important because it allows development of management strategies which make the most efficient use of control resources.
Land managers are encouraged to submit data for inclusion in FLINV.
Why should your invasive plants be in FNAI's database?
- The FLInv database will ultimately be used as a management tool to allocate invasive species control resources within the state.
- FNAI will document invasive plants in a standardized GIS format including detailed characteristics of infestations, in addition to their location.
- FNAI has prepared a suite of forms, templates, and data dictionaries that can be used to quickly document infestations.
- FNAI accepts data in a variety of standardized formats that can include infestations mapped using polygons and lines in addition to points.
- FNAI biologists can assist with invasive plant identification, surveying, and mapping. Note: FNAI invasive plant surveys are intended to identify and characterize major infestations but, due to the scope of this project, they cannot be exhaustive and it is possible that minor outlying infestations may be missed.
Contributing Data
Following FLInv standards each invasive plant infestation for a species is represented by a spatial feature (a polygon, line or point) and an associated set of tabular attributes. To accommodate contributors’ time constraints and technical capabilities, FNAI accepts this data in a variety of formats. All of the materials necessary to prepare data for submission are contained in the FLINV_Data_Collection zip file which can be downloaded below. The FLINV_Read_ Me.txt file within the zip file describes the purpose of each of the files in the package.
DOWNLOAD FLINV_Data_Collection.zip (457 KB). (You may need to download the latest version of Adobe Reader to view the pdf documents.)
To simplify processing, FNAI prefers data in the following formats:
| Best: | GIS Shapefiles prepared using FLInv data dictionary, ArcPad forms or shapefile templates. Polygons or lines are preferred over points except when mapping extremely small infestations. | |
| Great: | Maps with infestations drawn as polygons or lines, with point coordinates and attributes for all features in an accompanying Excel file prepared using the FLInv Spreadsheet Template. | |
| Good: | Maps with infestations drawn as polygons or lines, with point coordinates and attributes for all features on accompanying data sheets prepared using the FLInv Field Survey Form | |
| Acceptable: | FLInv Field Survey Forms filled out with coordinates and attributes of infestation points. | |
| The Minimum: | Any other data format including at minimum a location, plant name, and survey date of invasive plant infestations. |
E-mail complete datasets to the FLInv Invasives Data Coordinator.
Viewing and Downloading Existing Data
Data from the FLInv geodatabase for species designated as Category I and II Invasives by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council can be viewed on the iMapInvasives webpage at iMapInvasives. FNAI is one of the founding partners of iMapInvasives, a cooperative project to develop a national on-line, GIS-based, all-taxa invasive species mapping tool.
Shapefiles of the database contents are updated quarterly and are available for download below. Polygon and point files contain distinct datasets with no duplication of infestations. The tabular data files are Excel copies of the shapefile attribute tables. The metadata provides a detailed description of the shapefiles including the details of the tabular data contained in the Excel files.
Download Data
| Shapefiles (with metadata) | FLINV_shp_20081215.zip | (11 MB) | ||
| Point feature metadata | FLINVpt_20081215.htm | (97.9 KB) | ||
| Polygon feature metadata | FLINVpoly_20081215.htm | (99.1 KB) | ||
| FLInv Excel Data | FLINV_Excel_20081215.zip | (8.33 MB) |
For more information on data contribution or specific data requests, or to discuss an invasive plant survey on public conservation lands, please call FNAI at 850-224-8207.
To let others know about FLInv dowload the flyer.
Publications
Lygodium Statewide Treatment Evaluation Report A report on treatment recommendations for invasive climbing ferns.
Support
This project is funded by the Invasive Plant Management Section within the Division of Habitat and Species Conservation of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.