Plantas Invasoras

Plantas Invasoras

About this app

The “Invasive Plants” application is part of the Citizen Science platform "Invasoras.pt" which aims to involve citizens in data collection and in the management of invasive plants. The App helps to identify invasive plant species and allows you to collect data on their distribution in Portugal. These species are a threat to biodiversity and native ecosystems and represent significant economic losses. In Europe alone, the damage related to invasive species is estimated to be well over 10 billion euros per year. The first step in managing them is to know where they are, so with this App we ask for the help of all citizens to map invasive plants in Portugal. To do so, they can submit location data, photographs and information about the invasive plants that they see.

Why an application to map invasive plants? Invasive plants are dispersed throughout the territory and their distribution changes quickly, so having an updated map of their distribution is not an easy task. Citizens' collaboration is valuable: the information collected will be essential as a management tool and as a basis for scientific studies. In addition to being able to submit sightings of invasive plants, you can also learn more about them with the help of small species sheets and the invasoras.pt website.

Who is behind the “Invasive Plants” App? A group of researchers from the Center for Functional Ecology of the University of Coimbra (CFE / UC) and the Escola Superior Agrária of the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra (ESAC / IPC) has been developing research on invasive plants for more than two decades and, at the same time, investing disseminating the topic to society. Within the scope of the INVADER-IV project (PTDC / AAG-REC / 4896/2014), they promoted the updating of the Citizen Science platform "Invasoras.pt", whose key elements are the invasoras.pt website and this App that aims to motivate citizens to collaborate in the mapping of invasive plants in Portugal.