Book Description
Invasive alien species are non-indigenous taxa introduced to areas beyond their natural distribution and bio-geographical barriers by human activity, with important impacts on biodiversity, human health and ecosystem services. With the human population being higher than ever before and increasing, together with unprecedented rates of mobility of humans and goods, the introduction of new invasive species is more common than ever and is at the forefront of research in many disciplines such as ecology, epidemiology and food security. The mechanisms of successful introduction, establishment and spread of invasive alien species are highly complex as biological, social, geographic, economic and climatic factors influence the way an invasive species is introduced and determine the options available for its eventual detection and control. With the rapid development of smart sensors, social networks, digital maps and remotely-sensed imagery, spatio-temporal data are more ubiquitous and richer than ever before. The availability of such large datasets (Big data) poses great challenges in data analysis. In addition, increased availability of computing power facilitates the use of computationally-intensive methods for the analysis of such data. Thus new methods are needed to efficiently study and understand biological invasions. A Research Topic held in Frontiers Environmental Informatics aimed to address this topic. Methods are defined in the widest terms and may be analytical, practical or conceptual. Among others, a key aim of the thematic was to maximize the use of the proposed methods/techniques by the scientific community and environmental stakeholders.
