Our ISRI Affiliates conduct a wide array of research, extension, and teaching relating to invasion science. Part of our role at ISRI is to help amplify these activites, and as our initiative grows we anticipate an increasing number and diversity of projects and mechanisms to add value. Below we provide illustrative examples of some current ISRI activities.
One thing ISRI aspires to do is ensure that stakeholders can easily access important information. We achieve this through partnerships, education and other activities.
For instance, we organize events at conferences where land managers and researchers can connect, kind of like speed-dating but for networking. These events encourage conversations between people who might not have met otherwise. The goal is to help managers find answers to their questions and help researchers ask questions that are more relevant to managers. Ultimately, this should lead to better outcomes for our natural resources and the many benefits we derive from them.
Via our Extension and Research coordinators, we work with the Florida Invasive Species Council to make sure natural resource managers stay updated on the latest research and management issues through monthly webinars and email updates via the Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (CISMA) network. These webinars are free and focus on practical natural resource research and related topics. Similar internal training opportunities on a broader array of invasive species issues to Extension agents are provided via UF’s Invasive Species Council. Additionally, we collaborate with organizations like the Southeast Regional Invasive Species and Climate Change (SE RISCC) program to create research summaries that present cutting-edge research in an easy-to-understand format for managers. Lastly, we support decision-making tools that help managers make well-informed decisions, like the SIIPA tool.
While invasive species are recognized as one of the largest threats to biodiversity, an overly concentrated focus on specific species can impede efforts to monitor and manage a broader array of invasive threats. Our goal is to evaluate potential trends and gaps in the literature on invasive species using data review techniques including literature reviews and bibliometric analyses. Bibliometric analysis enables diverse forms of data exploration, including the examination of emerging trends and collaboration patterns, through the use of objective data collection and evaluation methods that are both objective and subjective.
Environmental resistance (ER) of native community, measured by similarities between native and the invaded areas, may provide a complementary approach for predicting invasion risk when information on the niche or the identity of potential invaders is unknown. Using ER-based models, our research aims to identify the dominant drivers on the spread of invasive species and further predict the invasion dynamics under future climate. The research focus on invasive plants and animals in eastern US, and multiple ER measures are applied in ER models, including similarities in species assemblages, phylogenetic and functional traits, as well as similarities in climate, elevation, soil and human disturbances. These models were conducted for each invasive species and then evaluated by comparing the simulated results with the actual ranges. Finally, the invasion risk patterns and their future dynamics are revealed by overlapping the simulated ranges of all the species by their optimal ER model.
One of the major introduction pathways of non-native species is the pet trade. While there are arguments assigning responsibility for pet trade releases to each of the different pathways of introduction (i.e., accidental large-scale releases, large-scale intentional releases by breeders and sellers, and release of individual animals by pet owners), one key focus is on individual owners and the circumstances surrounding the intentional release of non-traditional pets. Our aim is to enhance understanding of the factors contributing to these releases through Human Dimensions studies focused on non-traditional pet ownership in Florida
