An official website of the United States government.
Based on years of experience and the latest science, APHIS developed a list of 59 pests and diseases that could pose a significant risk to U.S. food and agriculture resources. The list is not meant to be all-encompassing, but rather focus on the most impactful pests and diseases. USDA's goal remains to keep the U.S. free of these foreign pests and diseases.
Invasive Species Resources
Provides access to all site resources, with the option to search by species common and scientific names. Resources can be filtered by Subject, Resource Type, Location, or Source.
Displaying 1 to 20 of 75
Search HelpUSDA. APHIS. Plant Protection and Quarantine.
DOI. USGS. National Wildlife Health Center.
Provides news updates and other resources
DHHS. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Provides situation summaries by type (wild birds, poultry, humans) and location.
DOI. NPS. Yellowstone National Park.
If you plan to use your own boat or angler float tube, you’ll need a permit and a free Yellowstone aquatic invasive species inspection. You can speed up the inspection process by arriving with a boat that is clean, drained, and dry. Watercraft that arrive dirty or with standing water will be subject to decontamination. Watercraft that cannot be properly decontaminated will be prohibited from launching.
Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Urban legends about the origins of canal grass in Panama abound, but the Smithsonian has new evidence that puts the question to rest. Canal grass is an invasive weed, native to Asia. Because its tiny seeds blow in the wind, it readily invades clearings and spreads to form impenetrable stands by budding from tillers and rhizomes. Once established, canal grass is challenging to eliminate.
Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Marine Invasions Research Lab. National Exotic Marine and Estuarine Species Information System (NEMESIS).
DOI. Fish and Wildlife Service. Chesapeake Bay Field Office.
U.S. Government Printing Office. Federal Depository Library Program Electronic Collection Archive.
Compiled and Edited by: Gregory Ruiz and David Reid, NOAA Technical Memorandum GLERL-142.
See also: GLERL Technical Reports for more reports
See also: GLERL Technical Reports for more reports
Emerald Ash Borer Information Network.
Provides federal and state quarantine information.
USDA. APHIS. Plant Protection and Quarantine.
See also: Noxious Weeds Program: Regulations and Noxious Weed Regulations (U.S. Government Publishing Office - Electronic Code of Federal Regulations; Title 7: Agriculture, Part 360)
USDA. Agricultural Marketing Service.
AMS enforces interstate commerce provisions of the Federal Seed Act (FSA) and provides seed testing service under the Agricultural Marketing Act. The FSA regulates the interstate shipment of agricultural and vegetable seeds. Includes the State Noxious-Weed Seed Requirements Recognized in the Administration of the Federal Seed Act (2020; PDF | 2.1 MB). This annually updated publication contains information about the various State labeling requirements and prohibitions of noxious-weed seeds and shows the scientific names and common names according to the law and regulations of the particular State in which the seed is noxious (by State and Appendices - common and scientific name cross-referenced).
See also: Items of Interest in Seed Control (publication for seed control officials and seed companies).
DOI. United States Geological Survey.
Invasive species are a subset of non-native (or alien) species, and knowing what species are non-native to a region is a first step to managing invasive species. People have been compiling non-native and invasive species lists ever since these species started causing harm, yet national non-native species lists are neither universal, nor common. Non-native species lists serve diverse purposes: watch lists for preventing invasions, inventory and monitoring lists for research and modeling, regulatory lists for species control, and nonregulatory lists for raising awareness. This diversity of purpose and the lists’ variation in geographic scope make compiling comprehensive lists of established (or naturalized) species for large regions difficult. However, listing what species are non-native in an area helps measure Essential Biodiversity Variables for invasive species monitoring and mount an effective response to established non-native species. In total, 1,166 authoritative sources were reviewed to compile the first comprehensive non-native species list for three large regions of the United States: Alaska, Hawaii, and the conterminous United States (lower 48 States). The list contains 11,344 unique names: 598 taxa for Alaska, 5,848 taxa for Hawaii, and 6,675 taxa for the conterminous United States.
The list is available to the public from U.S. Geological Survey ScienceBase, and the intent, though not a guarantee, is to update the list as non-native species become established in, or are eliminated from, the United States. The list has been used to annotate non-native species occurrence records in the U.S. Geological Survey all-taxa mapping application, Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation (BISON).
Open-File Report 2018-1156, 15 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181156.
DOI. FWS. Fisheries and Habitat Conservation.
Through the Service's AIS Program, one AIS Coordinator is funded in each Service Region. This dedicated group of people works closely with state invasive species coordinators, non-governmental groups, private landowners and many others in their day-to-day activities. Provides State and Regional AIS contacts.
USDA. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Includes information for Mexican Fruit Fly, Mediterranean Fruit Fly, and Oriental Fruit Fly