Agenda item 3.1 (c) Presentation of the EASIN CGBN Co-ordination Group for Biodiversity and Nature 13 th meeting – 06/09/12

Joint Research Centre Institute for Environment and Sustainability Water Resources Unit BIOMES EASIN European Alien Species Information Network EASIN TEAM Ana Cristina Cardoso Francesca Gatto Ivan Deriu (Jochen Vandekerkhove) Konstantins Bogucarskis Stelios Katsanevakis

Outline Policy background Status and quality of existing information Gaps in the available information Introduce EASIN: basic features, future plans

Support to European policies COM (2008) 789 Towards an EU strategy on invasive species (IS) need for an effective early warning system mandatory monitoring and reporting procedures and efficient rapid response mechanisms might also be established halting the loss of biodiversity in the EU will not be possible without tackling IS in a comprehensive manner

Support to European policies COM (2011) 244 an EU biodiversity strategy to 2020 Target 5: By 2020, Invasive Alien Species and their pathways are identified and prioritized, priority species are controlled or eradicated, and pathways are managed to prevent the introduction and establishment of new IAS. Action 16: …a dedicated EU legislative instrument which could tackle outstanding challenges relating inter alia to IAS pathways, early detection and response and containment and management of IAS EU Regulation (by the end of 2012)

Support to European policies MSFD Descriptor 2: Non-indigenous species introduced by human activities are at levels that do not adversely alter the ecosystem Trends in abundance, temporal occurrence and spatial distribution in the wild of non-indigenous species (…) in relation to the main vectors and pathways (…) Ratio between invasive non-indigenous species and native species in some well studied taxonomic groups (…) that may provide a measure of change in species composition (…) Impacts of non-indigenous invasive species (…)

Existing information systems: 43 online databases on aliens Global and regional information systems AVIBASE CABI-ISC EPPO PQR FishBase Baltic Sea CIESMEU-BIRDSGISD Caspian Sea DAISIE FAO-DIASNOBANIS Country-level databases Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom Are they sufficient/efficient to support European policies?

Nomenclature issues Various definitions of alien species (e.g. different cutoff dates) Various degrees of coverage Different scopes Not always regularly updated 43 online databases on aliens compilation + evaluation

Complementarity among databases Data retrieved: August 2011

Complementarity

Higher number of reported aliens from countries with national databases

Gaps in available online information Marine alien species

Assessment of online resources Complementarity and gaps in existing online information systems Non-uniform coverage Variability in the quality of information (across countries, regions, environments) Incompatibilities among databases Lack of geo-referenced records

Network of online interoperable web services EASIN: Compilation, Harmonization, Processing Data Provider 1 Data Provider K Data Provider 5 Data Provider 3 Data Provider 2 Data Provider 4 Provision of spatial data Provision of services & tools Links to more detailed information

Under development To be officially launched by September 2012

List of names of ‘alien species’ Revision + completion catalogue 1. exclusion of ‘extinct’, ‘potential aliens’, ‘reintroduced’, ‘excluded’ etc 2. spelling errors 3. standardization 4. identification and correction of synonyms 5. removal of duplicates EASIN catalogue with revised ‘alien species’ Used for querying spatial information from distributed information systems through a network of interoperable web services

EASIN core catalogue Data Providers Spatial data EASIN web services

Search: from single species…

Search: …to complex queries

GIS mapping – from just occurrences to aggregated maps

Future plans

Using EASIN Case study: Assessing pathways of introduction of marine aliens in Europe Zenetos A, Katsanevakis S, Belchior C, Cardoso AC, submitted. Invading European Seas: assessing pathways of introduction of marine aliens

Using EASIN Case study: Assessing pathways of introduction of marine aliens in Europe Zenetos A, Katsanevakis S, Belchior C, Cardoso AC, submitted. Invading European Seas: assessing pathways of introduction of marine aliens

Using EASIN Case study: Assessing pathways of introduction of marine aliens in Europe shipping Zenetos A, Katsanevakis S, Belchior C, Cardoso AC, submitted. Invading European Seas: assessing pathways of introduction of marine aliens

Using EASIN Case study: Assessing pathways of introduction of marine aliens in Europe corridors Zenetos A, Katsanevakis S, Belchior C, Cardoso AC, submitted. Invading European Seas: assessing pathways of introduction of marine aliens

Using EASIN Case study: Assessing pathways of introduction of marine aliens in Europe aquaculture Zenetos A, Katsanevakis S, Belchior C, Cardoso AC, submitted. Invading European Seas: assessing pathways of introduction of marine aliens

Using EASIN Case study: Assessing pathways of introduction of marine aliens in Europe aquarium trade Zenetos A, Katsanevakis S, Belchior C, Cardoso AC, submitted. Invading European Seas: assessing pathways of introduction of marine aliens

Joint Research Centre Institute for Environment and Sustainability Water Resources Unit BIOMES EASIN European Alien Species Information Network EASIN TEAM Ana Cristina Cardoso Francesca Gatto Ivan Deriu (Jochen Vandekerkhove) Konstantins Bogucarskis Stelios Katsanevakis