Social media data reveal novel habitats for invasive species

Shawan Chowdhury , Rochita Debnath, Niloy Hawladar, Scarlett R Howard, Kathryn A Hodgins, Bob B M Wong, Ivan Jarić

Invasive alien species pose significant threats to biodiversity, yet their distributions remain poorly documented across much of the tropics. Using Bangladesh, a megapopulated tropical country, we combine species distribution data from Facebook and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) to evaluate how data integration improves invasive alien species distribution. Our compiled dataset contains 11,469 occurrence records for 65 species. Although Facebook contributed only 6% of the total records, it provided more data than GBIF for two-thirds of the species and served as the unique source of distribution data for 23 species. Incorporating Facebook data increased estimated range sizes for 44 species and expanded the spatial extent of species distributions by 14%. Facebook records also exhibited distinct environmental patterns, often in urban and human-impacted areas. Our study demonstrates that social media can help fill critical biodiversity data gaps in under-sampled regions, and should be integrated into invasive species monitoring and conservation planning frameworks.