Data from: Taxonomic, geographic, and diversity trends for exotic plant pests in recent biosurveillance articles

Data scraped from an online repository of 1,925 articles collected by the biosurveillance program, PestLens, from 2008-2018, and then edited. The 1,612 edited records shown had usable information for report date, pest species taxonomy and type, and country of report. Tabs are also included for the complete list of genera used to try to match extracted information, as well as a final list of all matched genera and their pest type. This data were used to identify significant and meaningful trends, patterns, or relationships in pest reporting over time, perhaps to better identify problematic pests.

PestLens is a Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) biosurveillance system wherein analysts search online, open-source material for information on exotic plant pests that have relevance to plant health in the United States (https://pestlens.info/). The objectives are to provide early-warning information about those pests, and to facilitate timely and appropriate safeguarding responses. PestLens provides a web-based platform for disseminating collected information, and documenting safeguarding decisions and resulting actions. PestLens has collected open-source reports about plant pests exotic to the United States since 2007.

• Resource Title: File Edited PestLens articles data 2008-2018.

  File Name: Edited PestLens articles data 2008-2018.xlsx

  Resource Description: Data on pest taxonomy and type, date of weekly summary, and country of report for articles on potentially invasive species of importance to the United States




• Resource Title: Data Dictionary for Edited PestLens Articles Data 2008-2018.

  File Name: Data Dictionary Edited PestLens Articles Data 2008-2018.csv