'Invasive Alien Species Europe', which contains detailed information about and photos of those animals and plants, makes it possible for citizens to use their phones' navigation system and cameras to capture images of them. By sending the exact location of a sighting and a photo via the app, users contribute to crowdsourcing the maps showing where invasive aliens species occur, and help to build the European Alien Species Information Network.
Tibor Navracsics, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, responsible for the JRC, said: “The beauty of this app is that it turns its users into citizen-scientists, helping to monitor invasive alien species that threaten biodiversity in the EU. The information collected will enrich existing insights into invasive alien species. In this way we also foster citizens' awareness of the problems caused by invasive alien species in Europe." The list for instance includes the American grey squirrel, which transfers a poxyvirus that is lethal to native red squirrels and leads to their local extinction, the raccoon, which can harbour and spread diseases affecting humans as well as farmed and wild animals, and the signal crayfish that carries the crayfish plague fungus and leads to the extinction of native crayfish.
A small proportion of alien species become invasive and seriously disturb ecosystems, causing damage worth millions of euros in the EU every year. The application is free and can be downloaded for android and iOS.
