Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species - Tonga

Viliami Hakaumotu; Karen Stone; Shyama Pagad; Shyama Pagad

doi:10.15468/2tz4rm

Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species - Tonga

Citation

Hakaumotu V, Stone K, Pagad S (2022). Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species - Tonga. Invasive Species Specialist Group ISSG. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/2tz4rm accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-11-09.

Description

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS) presents validated and verified national checklists of introduced (alien) and invasive alien species at the country, territory, and associated island level. Checklists are living entities, especially for biological invasions given the growing nature of the problem. GRIIS checklists are based on a published methodology and supported by the Integrated Publishing Tool that jointly enable ongoing improvements and updates to expand their taxonomic coverage and completeness. All kingdoms of organisms occurring in all environments and systems are covered. Checklists are reviewed and verified by networks of country or species experts. Verified checklists/ species records, as well as those under review, are presented on the online GRIIS website (www.griis.org) in addition to being published through the GBIF Integrated Publishing Tool.

Purpose

The resource will be a support to countries to make progress to achieve Aichi Biodiversity Target 9 -in the development of their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans, their National Invasive Alien Species Strategy and Action Plan, target setting and monitoring.

Sampling Description

Study Extent

The geographic focus of this checklist is Tonga

Sampling

This annotated checklist is focused on introduced (alien) and invasive species that are known to occur on Tonga The International Union for Conservation of Nature, (IUCN) describes an Introduced/ Alien and Invasive alien species as follows:
An Introduced or Alien species means a species, subspecies, or lower taxon occurring outside of its natural range (past or present) and dispersal potential (i.e. outside the range it occupies naturally or could not occupy without direct or indirect introduction or care by humans) and includes any part, gametes or propagule of such species that might survive and subsequently reproduce. An Invasive Alien Species is an alien species which becomes established in natural or semi-natural ecosystems or habitat, is an agent of change, and threatens native biological diversity. In GRIIS, species are recorded as having an impact (as 'yes' under 'isInvasive') if there is evidence of the species negatively impacting biodiversity, and including species that are widespread, spreading rapidly or present in high abundance (Pagad et al. 2018). This usage is relevant to the purpose of GRIIS, and consistent with the concept of impact as formulated by Parker et al. (1999) and now widely used (e.g. Didham et al. 2005, Strayer et al. 2006, McGeoch et al. 2010, 2012, Vila et al. 2011), where impact is a function not only of the per capita effect of an individual organism, but is a combined function of the effect, abundance and range size of a species. Impact can of course be defined in different ways, driven by different objectives, such as its usage in EICAT where it is defined as a measurable change to the properties of an ecosystem caused by an alien taxon (Hawkins et al. 2015).

Quality Control

The draft checklist is compiled by collating data and information through a comprehensive literature overview. Additional steps implemented to control the quality of the data are described below. Taxonomic harmonization and normalization using the GBIF taxonomic backbone To harmonize all species names across countries, species lists are subjected to a normalization process in which taxon rank and taxonomic status are identified and assigned. Spelling and other errors in assigning species authorship are also corrected. Data validation The Project Personnel complete a review and validate all the annotations, especially those on provenance and 'invasive' status of the species based on evidence of impact. Data verification The checklist is submitted to a network of country editors for a review of both accuracy of records, annotations and identification of any significant gaps in the data. Data verification is an iterative process and the activity for a particular version is declared complete on agreement of all relevant country editors (see versioning details below). One of the key tenets of the GRIIS project has been engagement with country editors in the verification process and as custodians of country checklists. While this has been possible in the majority of countries, for a small number of countries this engagement process has not been succeeded in delivering a verified checklist. In these cases, the GRIIS Project Personnel have completed the validation of the species records but continue to work towards identifying country experts.

Method steps

Data collation and categorization Data filtering and categorization/ classification Taxonomic harmonization and normalization Data validation Data verification
The published methods underpinning GRIIS and each checklist are described in Pagad et al 2018.

Additional info

Versioning The GRIIS checklists are dynamic and reflect the latest known status of alien and invasive species presence and impacts. The original versions of each country checklist (v1.0) undergo two potential types of updates: 1. Major updates: These happen when batches of new species or records become available, usually addressing multiple taxonomic groups simultaneously. Each checklist is assigned a new version number after a major update (e.g. from v1.0 to v2.0). 2. Incremental updates: These are smaller ongoing updates involving the addition of new species or records based on new publications as well as taxonomic or other updates. Incremental updates to a checklist are associated with a subversion number, e.g. v1.1. The checklist version number is visible/available on the citation.

Taxonomic Coverages

Animalia, Bacteria, Chromista, Fungi, Plantae, Protozoa, Viruses

Animalia
rank: kingdom
Bacteria
rank: kingdom
Chromista
rank: kingdom
Fungi
rank: kingdom
Plantae
rank: kingdom
Protozoa
rank: kingdom
Virus
rank: kingdom

Geographic Coverages

Tonga

Bibliographic Citations

Hamer, M., Victor, J., Smith, G.F. (2012). Best Practice Guide for Compiling, Maintaining and Disseminating National Species Checklists, version 1.0, released in October 2012. Copenhagen: Global Biodiversity Information Facility, 40 pp, ISBN: 87-92020-48-8, Accessible at http://www.gbif.org/orc/?doc_id=4752. -
Pagad S, Genovesi P, Carnevali L, Schigel D, McGeoch MA (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data, 5, 170202. https://www.nature.com/articles/sdata2017202 -
Parker I, Simberloff D, Lonsdale W. et al. (1999) Impact: Toward a Framework for Understanding the Ecological Effects of Invaders. Biological Invasions 1, 3–19 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010034312781 -
Didham RK, Tylianakis JM, Hutchison MA, Ewers RM, Gemmell NJ. (2005) Are invasive species the drivers of ecological change? Trends Ecol Evol. 2005 Sep;20(9):470-4. Epub 2005 Jul 21. -
Strayer DL, Eviner VT, Jeschke JM, Pace ML. (2006) Understanding the long-term effects of species invasions. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 21(11):645-51 -
McGeoch MA, Butchart SHM, Spear D, Marais E. Kleynhans EJ, Symes A, Chanson J, Hoffmann M. (2010) Global indicators of biological invasion: species numbers, biodiversity impact and policy responses. Diversity and Distributions Volume16, Issue1 January 2010 McGeoch, M.A., Spear, D., Kleynhans, E.J. & Marais, E. 2012. Uncertainty in invasive alien species listing. Ecological Applications 22, 959-971. 10.1890/11-1252.1 -
Vilà M, Espinar JL, Hejda M, Hulme PE, Jarošík V, Maron JL, Pergl J, Schaffner U, Sun Y, Pyšek P. (2011) Ecological impacts of invasive alien plants: a meta‐analysis of their effects on species, communities and ecosystems. Ecology Letters Volume14, Issue7 July 2011 Pages 702-708 -
Hawkins CL, Bacher S, Essl F, Hulme PE, Jeschke JM, Kühn I, Kumschick S, Nentwig W, Pergl J, Pyšek P, Rabitsch W, Richardson DM, Vilà M, Wilson JRU, Genovesi P, Blackburn TM. (2015) Framework and guidelines for implementing the proposed IUCN Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (EICAT) Diversity and Distributions Volume21, Issue11 November 2015 Pages 1360-1363 -
Atherton, J. N.; McKenna, S.A.; Wheatley, A. 2015. Rapid Biodiversity Assessment of the Vava’u Archipelago, Kingdom of Tonga. SPREP. Apia, Samoa / – Apia, Samoa : SPREP, 2015 -
Burkill, I. H. 1900. The flora of Vavau, one of the Tonga Islands, with a short account of its vegetation by Charles Steele Crosby. Lin. Jour. Bot. 35:20-65. -
Ellison, Joanna C. 1990. Vegetation and floristics of the Tongatapu outliers. Atoll Research Bulletin No. 332. Smithsonian Institution, Washington. 36 pp. -
Kingdom of Tonga national aquaculture management and development plan 2018-2022 / prepared by the Tonga -
Meyer, Jean-Yves. 2000. Preliminary review of the invasive plants in the Pacific islands (SPREP Member Countries). In: Sherley, G. (tech. ed.). Invasive species in the Pacific: A technical review and draft regional strategy. South Pacific Regional Environment Programme, Samoa. 190 pp. -
Space, J. C., and T. Flynn. 2001. Report to the Kingdom of Tonga on Invasive Plant Species of Environmental Concern. U.S.D.A. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, Honolulu, Hawai‘i, USA. -
Swan, T.; Harding, J. 2016. The distribution and occurrence of mosquito larvae (Diptera: Culicidae) in the Tongatapu Island Group, Kingdom of Tonga. Austral Entomology -
Wetterer, J. K. 2002. Ants of Tonga. Pacific Science (2002), vol. 56, no. 2:125–135 -
Whistler, W. A. 1988. Checklist of the weed flora of western Polynesia. Technical Paper No. 194, South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 69 pp. -

Contacts

Viliami Hakaumotu
originator
position: National Invasive Species Co-ordinator
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Tonga
TO
email: viliamihakau@gmail.com

Karen Stone
originator
Va'vau Environmental Protection Association
TO
email: info@vavauenvironment.org

Shyama Pagad
originator
position: Deputy Chair - Information
IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group
109, Kaihau Road RD 3
Auckland
2683
NZ
email: s.pagad@auckland.ac.nz

Shyama Pagad
metadata author
position: Deputy Chair - Information
IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group
109, Kaihau Road RD 3
Auckland
2683
NZ
email: s.pagad@auckland.ac.nz

Shyama Pagad
originator
position: Deputy Chair - Information
IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group
109, Kaihau Road RD 3
Auckland
2683
NZ
email: s.pagad@auckland.ac.nz

Wayne Asera
point of contact
position: Information Technology and Administration Officer, PRISMSS
The South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)
WS
email: waynea@sprep.org

Shyama Pagad
administrative point of contact
position: Deputy Chair - Information
IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group
109, Kaihau Road RD 3
Auckland
2683
NZ
email: s.pagad@auckland.ac.nz

Wayne Asera
administrative point of contact
position: Information Technology and Administration Officer, PRISMSS
The South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)
WS
email: waynea@sprep.org