Sightings Map of Invasive Plants in Portugal

The area of Continental Portugal is about 89 015 km2 and it is situated in the Mediterranean biogeographic region, covering 5 terrestrial ecoregions, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature. The archipelago of the Azores is located in the middle of the northern hemisphere of the Atlantic Ocean and extends along a west-northwest to east-southeast orientation (between 36.5°–40° North latitudes and 24.5°–31.5° West longitudes) in an area approximately 600 km wide. The archipelago of Madeira is located 520 km from the African coast and 1 000 km from the European continent. It is found in the extreme south of the Tore-Madeira Ridge, a bathymetric structure of great dimensions oriented along a north-northeast to south-southwest axis that extends for 1 000 m.

The dataset is created through a citizen science project which involves citizens in the mapping of invasive plants in Portugal (both mainland and Archipelagos of Azores and Madeira). Sightings can be submitted either directly on the website (https://invasoras.pt/pt/mapeamento) or using an app for Android (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pt.uc.invasoras2) or iOS (https://apps.apple.com/pt/app/plantas-invasoras-em-portugal/id1501776731) devices, in situ. Sightings are distributed all over the country and are submitted by the users registered in the platform. Any citizen can register and submit sightings, but only validated sightings are visible in the dataset. Validation is made by the scientific team of the platform, based on photographs submitted with the sightings. No field validation is performed; nevertheless, the users that are more active in the platform have expertise in plant identification. For some species, namely Arundo donax, Opuntia maxima, Conyza bonariensis, Conyza canadensis, Conyza sumatrensis, Agave americana and Pittosporum undulatum, identification to species is rather difficult when photographs are not very detailed; as such, use of data of these species should take this warning into consideration. Although the timeframe of the project that developed the platform ended in 2013, the research team continues to follow up and validate the submitted sightings, and promoting activities aiming to engage the public. As such, the dataset is expected to be updated on a regular basis.

The original project [“Plantas Invasoras: uma ameaça vinda de fora” (Media Ciência N.º 16905)] was supported by “MEDIA SCIENCE”, an initiative of Ciência Viva (Portuguese Agency for Scientific and Technological Culture) and was co-financed by COMPETE (Operational Programme Competitiveness Factors) in the area for the Promotion of Scientific and Technological Culture. After, the platform was maintained through projects INVADER-B (“Gestão de plantas INVasoras em Portugal: da prevenção à DEtecção Remota e controlo biológico de Acacia longifolia”, reference PTDC/AAG-REC/4607/2012, November 2013 to November 2015), and INVADER-IV (INnoVative Approaches to Detect invasive spEcies and biocontRol agents”, reference PTDC/AAG­REC/4896/2014, July 2016 - June 2020) both funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portuguese funding agency for science, technology and innovation), through COMPETE and FEDER, Portugal 2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI). After that, the platform is run on a voluntary base by the research team of the platform INVASORAS.PT