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Herbicides are a class of pesticides used to kill or suppress weeds. This MontGuide introduces key concepts necessary for managing weeds and using herbicides safely and effectively.

With climate change, many invasive plants are projected to shift their ranges, creating hotspots of future invasions across the U.S. Knowing the identities of new invasive plants headed to a nearby state creates an opportunity for proactive prevention and management. Unfortunately, monitoring for and managing all range-shifting invasive plants is untenable. To help prioritize range-shifting species, Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center researchers performed impact assessments on 104 plants projected to expand into one or more mid-Atlantic states by 2040 with climate change. Their study was recently published (Oct 6, 2023) in Invasive Plant Science and Management "High-impact invasive plants expanding into mid-Atlantic states: identifying priority range-shifting species for monitoring in light of climate change."

This collection of publications in NAL's Digital Repository provides access to and addresses a number of topics concerning the gypsy and the related brown-tail moths, from biological control methods to tree banding to quarantine practices. The bulk of the documents were published from 1891 to 1923 by various agencies in the area of the initial infestation, including the State Board of Agriculture for Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island, but also include some more modern USDA publications.

Seeds that float in the air can hitchhike in unusual places – like the air-intake grille of a refrigerated shipping container. A team of researchers from the USDA Forest Service, Arkansas State University, and other organizations recently conducted a study that involved vacuuming seeds from air-intake grilles over two seasons at the Port of Savannah, Georgia. The viability of such seeds is of significant interest to federal regulatory and enforcement agencies, and the project required a shared stewardship approach. Their findings were recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Seeds from 30 plant taxa were collected from the air-intake grilles, including seeds of wild sugarcane (Saccharum spontaneum), a grass on the USDA's Federal Noxious Weed List. (scroll to view list on Federal Noxious Weeds Program). Federal noxious weeds pose immediate, significant threats to agriculture, nursery, and forestry industries. Although a lovely grass and useful in its native range, wild sugarcane has the potential to join cogongrass, stiltgrass, and other nonnative species that have become extremely widespread in the U.S.

See also: Weed I.D. and Options for Control for more species

See also: Home and Garden - Weeds for more fact sheets

In 2016 NASS began to collect data on honey bee health and pollination costs. Provides reliable, up-to-date statistics help track honey bee mortality.

Rodrigo Krugner, an entomologist with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Parlier, California, has found an innovative way to control insect pests in California vineyards: tapping into the vibrational signals they use as mating calls.

Krugner’s efforts have mainly focused on glassy-winged sharpshooters, which spread a bacterium that causes Pierce’s disease in vineyards and costs the California grape industry an estimated $104 million a year. Growers use chemical sprays to control the pests, but insecticides also kill beneficial insects, leave residues, and become less effective as the insects develop resistance.

Changing climate conditions have bearing on every aspect of biological invasions, in some cases worsening existing problems. Climate change is creating new pathways for invasive species to be introduced, such as shipping routes that open up as sea ice retreats. Warmer temperatures can allow existing invasive species to expand their range into habitat that is currently too cool. Similarly, impacts to native species and people may change if new conditions affect invasive species abundance. Climate change may make existing invasive species control tools less effective, such as aquatic barriers that require minimum water flows.

Scientists from the CNRS, the IRD, and the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle have just released the most comprehensive estimate to date of the financial toll of invasive species: nearly $1.3 trillion over four decades. Published in Nature (31 March 2021), their findings are based on the InvaCost database, which is financed by the BNP Paribas Foundation and the Paris-Saclay University Foundation’s AXA Chair of Invasion Biology. The annual expenses generated by biological invasions are only increasing, with no sign of any slowing.

Scientists have long warned that Hawaii’s cover of nonnative shrubs is kindling waiting to burn.
See also: Additional Invasive Species related articles

Learn how the U.S. government is responding to the Hawaii wildfires affecting Maui and the Big Island.

Publication NA–FR–01–11.