Monitoring
Detecting new invasive species and monitoring their spread in Ontario is an important part of fighting invaders. It helps us respond quickly and reduce the impacts of invasive species on Ontario’s ecosystems.
The Invading Species Awareness Program maintains a database of invasive species sightings across
the province. The program is also developing the Invasives Tracking System, a web-based reporting and networking tool currently limited to the Lake Simcoe Basin.
You can use the Invasives Tracking System to:
- create, view and download invasive species sighting reports and maps
- contribute to a community of citizen scientists who are concerned about invasive species in Ontario
- report sightings of invasive species (if you are a registered user).
In the future, the Invasives Tracking System will help us produce maps to show how key invasive species are spreading in Ontario. The database and maps will help us make decisions on managing invasive species in the province. Information about invasive species collected in Ontario is also used to support the U.S. Geological Survey’s efforts to track invasive species in the Great Lakes Basin.
Ontario is conducting several monitoring programs. These programs monitor the spread of specific invasive species or invasive micro-organisms in the province. One is the Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Program, which will alert us if the disease arrives in the province. Every year about 1,500 tissue samples are collected from Ontario deer hunters and tested for Chronic Wasting Disease.
Research
Research helps us understand invasive species and how they affect Ontario’s ecosystems. Scientists at the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources are studying invasive species and how to control them. The ministry also supports research at universities and partner agencies. The results of research on invasive species will help us improve the way we manage invasive species and develop new policies and regulations to help slow or stop their spread.
For example, researchers from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the University of Windsor are using chemical signals from male round gobies to attract female gobies. They are investigating if placing these chemicals in slow-release tablets will help us trap gobies. The results of this research could be used to stop gobies from spreading further into Ontario’s inland lakes and rivers.
