Plants in cyberspace
Science Centres: Aquatic Biodiversity and Biosecurity
New freshwater plant datasets are now available on-line
Alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides) is a major weed of water margins and can invade damp pastures. It is just one of the pest plants for which FBIS can provide details of its distribution and current management.
They are part of the latest version of NIWA’s Freshwater Biodata Information System (FBIS). FBIS contains records of well over 100 000 samples of plants and animals living in lakes, rivers, and streams, and can produce high-resolution maps of any part of the country, displaying any combination of the database information required.
Among the new features:
- a pest plant dataset provides management information and distribution records for 44 of New Zealand’s worst freshwater pest plants.
- lake vegetation summaries can now be produced in a ready-to-use report format.
The use of FBIS data for non-commercial purposes is free. Any agency can contribute records to FBIS: please contact us for details. FBIS was developed by NIWA, with funding support from DOC’s Terrestrial & Freshwater Biodiversity Information System programme.