After 22 years of assiduous work, the APIRS database contains more than 60,000 annotated citations for scientific articles and reports about uncounted species of aquatic, wetland and invasive plants. Beginning as a mainframe, punch-card database with a few hundred references about water hyacinths, the APIRS database has grown to be the largest free database of its kind in the world. After a recent period in which the database was unavailable due to computer crashes, it is now up and running and better than ever. It has retained the quick searching speed which is now combined with an easy-to-use web interface. The database has been used many thousands of times by researchers, government agencies, companies, teachers, students and private groups and individuals.
The History of APIRS APIRS originally was meant to be a source of information for "aquatic weed" workers in developing countries, and was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for that purpose. It quickly became a source of information for workers in Florida as well, gaining the support of the then Bureau of Aquatic Plant Management of the Florida Department of Natural Resources (now the Bureau of Invasive Plant Management of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)). USAID ceased sponsorship of the database in the early 1980s. The DEP Bureau continues to be a primary sponsor of the APIRS program. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Aquatic Plant Control Research Program supports national and international APIRS services. The program also is supported by the St. Johns River Water Management District, with occasional special-project support coming from other agencies and companies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Cerexagri.
APIRS was developed by Mr. Victor Ramey, who continues to manage the overall program. Ms. Karen Brown now manages the database itself, while Ramey works to develop other informational and educational products about aquatic, wetland and invasive plants. Ms. Mary Langeland is the cataloger of all materials placed in the database.
The Value of APIRS - (It's FREE!)
Essentially, APIRS is a bibliographic database devoted to the research of aquatic, wetland and invasive plants. Databases abound, but none of them are entirely devoted to these specific plants, and few, if any, are free. A researcher or an institution can subscribe to journals, but these are very expensive, ranging in price from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars each per year. In addition, journals are focused on a specific subject, and this is clear by the journal titles: Aquatic Botany, Plant Physiology, Journal of Ecology, etc. But subjects in aquatic and invasive plant research often cross disciplinary boundaries. Invasive and aquatic plant information can be published in ecology journals, weed science journals, or journals covering crop science, natural areas, wildlife management, ecological restoration, biogeography, and more. In the book, Life Out of Bounds - Bioinvasion in a Borderless World, Chris Bright comments that "Information on exotics is badly fragmented - it is scattered about in hundreds of technical newsletters and publications. . . ." Peter Pysek, in a chapter titled "Recent trends in studies on plant invasions" from Plant Invasions - General Aspects and Special Problems, states that "the available information on plant invasions is scattered . . . in at least 189 journals," and that journal literature comprises 80% of the total published information. Pysek names the top 13 journals and goes on to explain that in his sample, which covered the literature on any aspect of the ecology of non-native species, nine journals covered 28% of the published studies, and 20 journals covered almost 50% of the published studies. That is a lot of expensive journals to sub-scribe to. Pysek went on to say that approximately 15% of the literature on invasive plants was published in books or proceedings, and 4% was published in internal reports or theses. These types of items have been cataloged and entered into the APIRS database since its inception.
Many of the scientific journals are indexed, and sometimes abstracted, in commercial databases such as Biological Abstracts, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, Current Contents and others. However, unless you subscribe to these databases, or belong to an institution that does, you do not have access to them. These databases often are even more expensive than individual journals.
APIRS collects and catalogs journal articles, books, book chapters, theses, conference proceedings, agency reports and other published scientific literature. To build the APIRS collection, we write to authors for reprints, reports and books to be cataloged and entered into the database. Authors usually are happy to contribute their published research to the database, thus making it widely known to others in their field. Many regional research centers around the world also contribute relevant publications. We rely on these contributions to maintain a comprehensive collection. In exchange, researchers have access to a free bibliographic database of references specific to their field. To contribute publications to APIRS, please send reprints, photocopies or PDF's.
Searching APIRS
To search APIRS, go to http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu and click on APIRS Online Database. From this page, you can select Helpful Hints and Specific Examples for better searching of the database; Some Keywords in the Database for a simple list of keywords commonly used in the database; Category and Keyword Use for a list of definitions of the categories and keywords that we use when cataloging references; or Search to search for references in the database. Actually the database is straightforward enough even for first-time users to search without any instructions being necessary. However, to obtain the best results, it is best to consult the help pages. If difficulty or confusion is encountered when using the database, please contact Karen Brown. She will assist you with any problems or help you create a search strategy that will optimize your search results.
Finding Full Text
The APIRS database contains fully annotated citations for each reference, but not full text. We would like to be able to provide copies of publications to users of the database, but we are not permitted to do so under copyright law.
For those with access to an academic library, many books and journals may be available there. Also, most academic libraries participate in ''interlibrary loan'' (ILL) agreements, enabling them to borrow items from other libraries for their patrons. ILL requests can cost approximately $10 per item for non-members of the university and can be free for members, but this will vary between libraries.
Some articles may be downloaded directly from a journal's web site, but many require a fee.
To purchase the full text of cited articles, visit the document delivery services listed below. These services comply with copyright law. They can provide documents for fees ranging from $15 to $45 per article, with payment via online transaction or invoicing. These sources are not guaranteed to have references cited in APIRS, but they are the most likely document delivery services for science related journal articles. Although most of these sources have databases in their own right, none of them has the comprehensive coverage of the literature on aquatic, wetland and invasive plants found in APIRS.
ISI Document Solution - Institute for Scientific Information, 800/523-1850. Scanned articles are provided and various methods of delivery are available, including fax, Federal Express and standard mail delivery.
Ingenta (formerly CARL UnCover) - 800/787-7979. Full text articles are available by fax, Ariel (a digitized format used between libraries), or 24 hour electronic display/download. Payment by credit card.
ScienceDirect - a pay-per-view ordering process which allows 24 hour access to full text articles in PDF format, payable by credit card.
CAB International (UK) - Mail or fax delivery available.
British Library Document Supply Centre - ". . . a rapid and comprehensive document supply and interlibrary loan service from our extensive collections to researchers and scholars in all kinds of libraries and organisations." Self-described as the leading document provider in the world.
Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI) - One of the largest scientific and technical libraries in North America. Copyright-cleared document delivery services provided.
National Library of Australia - Australia's largest document supply center.
DocDel.net. A directory for document delivery services and users - hundreds of resources and providers.
For items that cannot be found using these document delivery services, contact Karen Brown for assistance at 352.392.1799 or kpb@mail.ifas.ufl.edu
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