[PCA] Additional invasive assessments available-NatureServe Explorer

[Kat Maybury]

My apologies.  Apparently the assessments for 3 of the 28 species I
listed below are not currently displaying on the NatureServe Explorer
site as expected.  These are:

Ludwigia grandiflora - Large-flower Primrose-willow, 
Phalaris arundinacea -  Reed Canarygrass,
and Phragmites australis - Common Reed

We will work to get this problem fixed as soon as possible.


Kat Maybury
Director, Botany Department 
NatureServe
1101 Wilson Blvd., 15th floor
Arlington, VA  22209
703-908-1882
kat_maybury at natureserve.org
www.natureserve.org
www.natureserve.org/explorer/

-----Original Message-----
From: Kat Maybury 
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 10:10 AM
To: 'Botany at lists.natureserve.org'; 'coordinator at lists.natureserve.org';
'native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org';
'apwg at lists.plantconservation.org'; 'ecology at lists.natureserve.org''
Subject: Additional invasive assessments available-NatureServe Explorer

NatureServe has added U.S. invasive (I-Rank) assessments for the
following 28 plants to our website, NatureServe Explorer:
http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/

Cynanchum louiseae -  Black Swallow-wort,
Digitaria sanguinalis -  Hairy Crabgrass,
Dipsacus laciniatus -  Cut-leaf Teasel,
Elymus repens - Creeping Wild Rye,
Frangula alnus -  Glossy False Buckthorn,
Ipomoea aquatica -  Swamp-cabbage,
Ipomoea triloba -  Little-bell,
Kummerowia striata - Common Korean-clover,
Lespedeza bicolor - Shrubby Bushclover,
Lespedeza thunbergii - Thunberg's Bushclover,
Lonicera maackii - Amur Honeysuckle,
Lonicera tatarica - Tatarian Honeysuckle,
Lonicera x bella,
Ludwigia grandiflora - Large-flower Primrose-willow,
Lythrum salicaria -  Purple Loosestrife,
Morus alba -  White Mulberry,
Ornithogalum umbellatum - Common Star-of-bethlehem,
Paspalum scrobiculatum - India Paspalum,
Phalaris arundinacea -  Reed Canarygrass,
Phleum pretense - Meadow Timothy,
Poa trivialis - Scribner Bluegrass,
Rorippa sylvestris - Creeping Yellowcress,
Rumex acetosella - Sheep Sorrel,
Sorghum halepense - Johnson Grass,
Cynanchum vincetoxicum  - White Swallow-wort,
Phragmites australis - Common Reed,
Ornithogalum nutans -  Drooping Star-of-Bethlehem,
Poa compressa

The I-rank assessments are the result of applying a systematic protocol
(Morse et al. 2004) to determine the degree of impact an individual
non-native species has on the native plants, animals, and ecosystems of
the United States.  Our hope is that these objective and transparent
assessments will build consensus and galvanize action.

This brings the total number of assessed plants to 480.

****** 

Detailed directions for accessing the U.S. invasive species (I-Rank)
assessments on NatureServe Explorer:
http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/

Look on the right hand side and you'll see "search the database for
species"  where "species" is a link.  Click on that. Or click the green
Search  button, and choose Plants and Animals.

This takes you to a search page with 3 tabs at the top "Name,"
"Location" and "Status"

The invasive species ranks (I-Ranks) are on the Status tab, so if you
click on that and either use the link at the top that says U.S. Invasive
Species Impact Rank (I-RANK or just scroll down the page, you'll see the
I-Rank select criteria.  There, you can select the species that have
been assessed as being "High," "Medium," "Low," "Insignificant," or of
"Unknown" impact.   The "Select all" button will show you everything
that has been assessed thus far. 

Once you've selected your criteria, just click "Search Now" and it will
execute your search.

You can combine I-Rank selects with criteria on the other tabs if you
want.  For example, you could select "High" as your I-Rank criterion and
then go to the "Location" tab and select "Maryland" and that will show
you all the plants that have been ranked as High impact and that occur
in Maryland. (The state (and province) level selects will work but we
have practically no county- or watershed-level distribution information
for non-native species.)

Or you could use "Select All" as your I-Rank criterion and then go to
the "Name" tab and type in "Trifolium%" to see all the Trifolium species
that have been assessed.

You can also omit the I-Rank criteria altogether and just use the "Name"
search to type in the name of your (least) favorite plant.  If we've
assessed it, you'll see the I-Rank section of the report when you click
on the species name in your search results. 

In fact, for any of your searches, the Search Results page will allow
you to click on the species name and obtain all the information we have
available for that species, arranged in thematic sections like
"Conservation Status", "Ecology & Life History" and ---the latest
addition ----"U.S. Invasive Species Impact Rank (I-Rank)".  The sections
are expandable/collapsible for ease of viewing whatever you're most
interested in.


Kat Maybury
Director, Botany Department 
NatureServe
1101 Wilson Blvd., 15th floor
Arlington, VA  22209
703-908-1882
kat_maybury at natureserve.org
www.natureserve.org
www.natureserve.org/explorer/