Biosecurity surveillance of e-commerce for illegal trade in declared plants

incursions software weeds

Status: Completed

Start date: 1 May 2020

Completion date: 30 April 2022

Project code: P01-W-003

Species/Threats: Weeds

Download project report (PDF, 8.41 MB)

Summary

Despite significant investment in preventative biosecurity for pest plants, we do not know enough about which, how and how many illegal plants are traded within Australia online.
The project created the Digital Surveillance for Illegal Wildlife Trade (DIWT) database, pulling together web-scraped data from over 80 ecommerce websites of over 7.2 million advertisements – which grow daily.

Objectives

This project shared the methodology and ultimately end-user platforms pursued by a sister CISS supported project: Understanding and intervening in illegal trade in non-native species.

Key achievements

Outputs

  • Online wildlife trade database of activity and advertisements for invasive species, DWIT (Digital Surveillance for Illegal Wildlife Trade).
  • Data Acquisition web scraper and data processing tools.

Outcomes

  • Foundational steps in keeping abreast of the growing demand for exotic species that pose a threat to Australian Biosecurity.
  • Increased understanding of online exotic species commerce and markets.
  • Efficient surveillance by Biosecurity officers of e-commerce trade in illegal plant species.

Impact

  • Improved effectiveness of monitoring and surveillance of the illegal plant trade into and out of Australia.
  • Reduced weed monitoring and surveillance costs.
  • Reduced total impact costs of new weed incursions by identifying and prioritising threats faster.
  • Reduced risk of environmental damage from the incursion and potential establishment of exotic invasive plant species.
  • Increased capacity for government invasive species managers.

Project team

Associate Professor Phill Cassey

Project Lead

Jacob Maher

Ms Stephanie Moncayo

Dr Lewis Mitchell

Dr Russel Brewer

A/Prof Jose Facelli

Lisa Wood

Project partners

The project received funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF).

Project updates

February 2021

The complete list of declared plants in Australia contains 1141 unique species and 44 whole genera. This list is separated by jurisdictions (states and territories), along with regional status where applicable. Any associated legal conditions, the common and trade names, and the higher taxonomy have also been recorded.

Twelve sites were monitored, resulting in over 20,000 listings which have matched with our search terms, approximately 10% of these have been cleaned. Of those listings cleaned, 432 detections have been made with 100 different declared species detected.

Community resources

Progress towards the eradication of Limnocharis flava from Australia. Proceedings of the 22nd Australia Weeds Conference, Adelaide - p. 262

Exposing Australia's online trade in pest plants - we've found thousands of illegal advertisements (theconversation.com)

Scientific publications & reports

Maher J, Stringham OC, Moncayo S, Wood L, Lassaline CR, Virtue J and Cassey P (2023) Weed wide web: characterising illegal online trade of invasive plants in Australia. NeoBiota 87: 45-72. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.87.104472

More like this

Completed

Lethal trap device (LTD)/PAPPutty™
In Progress

Genetic technology for mouse management
In Progress

National Feral Cat and Fox Management Coordinator
VIEW ALL RESEARCH PROJECTS