Pacific Introduced Flora (PacIFLora)

The Pacific region has the highest density of naturalized plant species
worldwide, which makes it an important area for research on the ecology,
evolution and biogeography of biological invasions. While different data
sources on naturalized plant species exist for the Pacific, there is no
taxonomically and spatially harmonized database available for different
subsets of species and islands. A comprehensive, accessible database
containing the distribution of naturalized vascular plant species in the
Pacific will enable new basic and applied research for researchers and
will be an important information source for practitioners working in the
region. Here, we present PacIFlora, an updated and taxonomically
standardized list of naturalized species, their unified nativeness,
cultivation and invasiveness status, and their distribution across the
Pacific Ocean, including harmonized location denomination. This list is
based on the two largest databases on naturalized plants for the region,
specifically the Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) and the Global
Naturalized Alien Flora (GloNAF) databases. We provide an outlook for how
this database can contribute to numerous research questions and
conservation efforts.