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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #417751
Research Project: Systematics of Beetles, Flies, Moths and Wasps with an Emphasis on Agricultural Pests, Invasive Species, Biological Control Agents, and Food Security

Location: Systematic Entomology Laboratory

Title: Addressing biological invasions in agriculture with big data in an informatics age

Author
item CLEMENT, REBECCA - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
item LEE, HYOSEOK - Hawaii Agricultural Research Center
item MANOUKIS, NICHOLAS - Hawaii Agricultural Research Center
item Pacheco, Yelena
item ROSS, FALLON - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS, USDA)
item Sisterson, Mark
item Owen, Christopher

Submitted to: Agriculture
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/22/2025
Publication Date: 5/28/2025
Citation: Clement, R.A., Lee, H., Manoukis, N.C., Pacheco, Y.M., Ross, F., Sisterson, M.S., Owen, C.L. 2025. Addressing biological invasions in agriculture with big data in an informatics age. Agriculture. 15(11):1157. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15111157.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15111157

Interpretive Summary: The introduction of non-native agricultural pests, biological invasions, is occurring more frequently and threatens our agricultural resources more than ever. Despite this, there remains a gap in our knowledge on how Big Data can apply to all aspects of biological invasions, from the science to the policy, and how they and everything in between can be integrated so that all those in the field can communicate with one another effectively. This manuscript fills that void by integrating all aspects of biological invasions and provides the Big Data framework for future integration among the many subdisciplines. Furthermore, the authors include a scientific example using notable citrus pests. The results will be useful to all fields of biological invasions to help bridge the information and communication gaps as those in the field seek to integrate Big Data to aid in preventing and controlling biological invasions.

Technical Abstract: Big Data approaches are rapidly expanding across many fields of science and are seeing increasing application, yet research and use of big data related to invasive species lags. Big data can be used to predict, detect, prevent, control, and eradicate biological invasions. Here, we assess terms in the literature related to big data, biological invasions and agriculture, and review sources of big data including occurrence data from museums and crowdsourcing, natural history data, and DNA data. These data can be combined with environmental data to build models, predict the origins of invasive species, and develop control methods. We employ Big Data in an insect case study to model global habitat suitability and make recommendations for enabling wider usage and better coordination in the use of Big Data across fields involved in invasive species and agriculture.