The Fish and Wildlife Information Exchange Division (FWIE) is continuing work this year on: ‘Collaboration With And Population Of The Global Invasive Species Database for the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure’. This project was designed to build on and apply the technical work already started by the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) at the Biological Resources Division and the Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) to develop species profiles that contain information on characteristics, life history, and management of invasive species www.issg.org/database.

It provides global information on invasive alien species to agencies, resource managers, decision-makers, and interested individuals. The database focuses on invasive species that threaten biodiversity and covers all taxonomic groups from micro-organisms to animals and plants. Species information is supplied by expert contributors from around the world and includes; species' biology, ecology, native and alien range, references, contacts, links and images.

Ultimately, this updated system, will serve as a central access point to gather data on vertebrate and invertebrate animals and plants in terrestrial, freshwater aquatic, and marine environments, worldwide. A list of 100 priority invasive species was provided to CMI for species account development in 2003. Data compilation continues and 50 new accounts are completed and under expert review. FWIE uses graduate and undergraduate students to assist with research and compilation of existing data involving these species profiles.

This project supports the work of the NBII Invasive Species Node (ISIN) http://invasivespecies.nbii.gov/ which emphasizes data relating to invasive species studies across the country, Web-enabled identification of key invasives and how to distinguish them from their look-alikes, and detailed species profiles made available through NBII regional nodes and the Global Invasive Species Database.