Invasive Species Digital Database
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For many years, pastoralists in Northern Kenya have been affected by Opuntia stricta, an invasive type of cactus that has blanketed their land and killed many of their animals. The fruits produced by the cacti attract livestock and humans alike with their sweet flesh and this is part of the reason why the plant has spread like wildfire in such a short period of time.
The tool focuses on mapping and modelling current and future distribution of Acacia reficiens and Prickly Pear (Opuntia stricta) within the larger Samburu - Laikipia region. It works by identifying areas of invasion – hotspots; and is extremely useful in prioritizing and planning of the conservation areas. Such information is central in controlling the spread and mitigating the impact of biological invasions. The data collected and maps developed will help the stakeholders in allocating both financial and human resources in invasive plant species eradication plans.
The mapper highlights the use of an android based application “Invasive Species App” in crowdsourcing training and validation data in mapping and modelling invasive species through involvement of the local communities. Correlative Species Distribution Models (SDMs - Maxent) are used to estimate the current potential distributions of invasive species using occurrence records from native range, with a projection of the models into new regions to assess susceptibility to invasion.
From https://rcmrd.org/en/smartphone-app-makes-it-easy-to-report-invasive-species-in-kenya-s-northern-rangelands
