WHAT’S THAT WEED?Introduced and invasive weeds can drastically reduce plant
biodiversity in Australia. A critical factor in dealing with invasive
weeds is the time it takes to detect and identify a new arrival.
The earlier the problem is identified, the faster appropriate
management practices can be effected. Making weed
identification tools widely available could help achieve these goals.
Our involvement in the development of weed identification
keys goes back more than 12 years, when Brisbane City Council
and The University of Queensland (UQ) jointly funded the
development of a local suburban and environmental weed key
(Suburban and Environmental Weeds of South East Queensland)
primarily for educational and training purposes. This led to the
Cooperative Research Centre for Weed Management deciding
to fund a team at UQ to expand on this key to include all of
the major environmental weeds (more than 1000 species)
throughout Australia.
Since its release as a DVD product in 2008, the content of the
key has been updated by Queensland Herbarium staff, while the
key itself has been converted to other Lucid software platforms,
allowing the Environmental Weeds of Australia key to be made
available online via a Queensland Government site, and as an
app for Android and iOS. The content of this weed database
has been used by collaborators in New Zealand and East Africa,
who have modified and edited the database and the weed
fact sheets to develop their own local weed keys. The originalkey has also been updated – with
sponsorship from local councils in
the region – to produce a free app
(featuring 695 weed species) for
use by weed control officers and
community groups. A third edition
will include additional species
listed in the recently updated
Queensland Biosecurity Act, and
a new weed reporting feature to
enable users to report detected
weeds of concern (or new
weeds), including photographs
and location information that
can be automatically attached,
uploaded, and reported to an appropriate agency.
To make identification easier, locational characters (select your
location and immediately get a species list for that location);
detailed images or drawings to help distinguish identifying
features; and three screens accessed by swiping left or right
(a summary screen, a list of features and a list of species
remaining) will be included.
Environmental Weeds of Australia contains more than 1000 weed
species. Photo: IdenticIdentify rainforest flora such as the vivid
firewheel tree with ‘Rainforest Plants of
Australia (Rockhampton to Victoria)’, available
on iTunes and Google Store. Photo: Tatiana
Gerus; Inset: Identic
The Key to Insect Orders (of
Australia), available as an app for
Android and iOS, will help even
amateur bug enthusiasts identify
insects such as the flower-feeding
march fly (Scaptia auriflua). Photo:
Jenny Thynne; Inset: IdenticThe red-naped snake (Furina diadema,
main image) and brown tree snake
(Boiga irregularis, inset) are just two
of the species you’ll find in ‘Snakes
of Australia’ by Hal Cogger, which is
available soon for Android and i0S.
Photo: Hal Cogger; Inset: Hal Cogger‘FunKey: an Interactive Guide
to 112 Agaric genera Australian
Macrofungi’ was developed by the
Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne
for Android and iOS Apps. Photo:
Jean & Fred Hort; Inset: Identic
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