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In a letter [PDF, 396 KB] to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Governors of the eight Great Lakes States have called on the U.S. Congress to provide full federal funding in the 2022 Water Resources Reform and Development Act for the remaining design, construction, operation, and maintenance costs of the Brandon Road Lock and Dam project. The project is intended to prevent invasive carp from migrating up the Mississippi River and entering and colonizing in the Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes Commission (GLC) released a report on the second phase of its work to stop internet sales of aquatic invasive species (AIS) in the Great Lakes region. The GLC initiative, known as the Great Lakes Detector of Invasive Aquatics in Trade (GLDIATR), demonstrated that “web crawling” applications can be used to track the online sale of priority AIS and support the work of AIS researchers, outreach coordinators, managers, and law enforcement officials across the Great Lakes basin.

Great Lakes Law is an independent online resource (blog) by by Professor Noah Hall, which provides news, analysis, and commentary on all things wet and legal in the Great Lakes region. Includes various categories related to aquatic invasive species.

The Great Lakes Sea Grant Network has released a comprehensive and coordinated outreach and education report on Asian carp in the region. The document includes information on carp life history, movement and behavior, monitoring, control, ecosystem impacts and gaps in current knowledge that need to be addressed further. The plan’s development was funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative through the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee. See final report (Publication OHSU-TB-1511) Education and Outreach on Asian Carp [2017; PDF, 5.6 MB].

A report by attorney Read D. Porter that examines coordination on aquatic invasive species (AIS) prevention among the Chesapeake Bay states. The report focuses on prevention-related legal authorities in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania in particular, and recommends actions to improve regional cooperation both within the existing regulatory frameworks and through potential amendments to state laws and regulations to enhance prevention.

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."

Black carp, which are an invasive fish species in North America, are now known to be established in the wild in parts of the Mississippi River basin. A new study co-authored by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is the first to identify an established population—meaning they are naturally reproducing and living to adulthood— of wild black carp in any location across the U.S.

When a black carp is captured in the wild, it can be reported to the USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species database. That tool compiles information on and can be used to track the status of other aquatic invasive species as well. The USGS is involved in many invasive species projects across the U.S. and its territories. Learn more by visiting the USGS Invasive Species website or the USGS Invasive Carp section.

Provides resources for National Plan, Action Plans, Monitoring Response Plans, Contingency Plans, Interim Summary Reports, and Water Resources Reform and Development Act Reports.

The Invasive Carp Regional Coordinating Committee (ICRCC) announced the release of its 2022 Invasive Carp Action Plan, a comprehensive portfolio of 60 projects focused on Great Lakes protection. The Action Plan serves as a foundation for the work of the ICRCC partnership — a collaboration of 28 U.S. and Canadian federal, state, provincial, tribal, regional, and local agencies.

The Invasive Carp Regional Coordinating Committee (ICRCC) is pleased to announce the release of its 2023 Invasive Carp Action Plan, a comprehensive portfolio of more than 50 projects focused on Great Lakes protection. The action plan serves as a foundation for the work of the Invasive Carp Regional Coordinating Committee partnership, a collaboration of 26 U.S. and Canadian federal, state, provincial, tribal, regional and local agencies.
See also: Action Plans and Report (see "Action Plan" section for 2023 Action Plan)

USGS scientists, in collaboration with partners, are conducting risk assessments and life history research to enhance the ability of agencies to manage Invasive carp to minimize their influence and spread.

Native freshwater mussels grew more slowly when invasive Asian clams (Corbicula fluminea) were abundant. The study was led by Wendell Haag, a USDA Forest Service research fisheries biologist. The study, "Abundance of an invasive bivalve, Corbicula fluminea, is negatively related to growth of freshwater mussels in the wild" was published in the journal Freshwater Biology. Mussels live out of sight – buried in the river bottom, eating algae and other small particles of organic material. Mussels are filter feeders and key members of aquatic ecosystems. Unfortunately, mussels are disappearing worldwide, and about 70 percent of the 300 mussel species native to the U.S. are in danger of extinction. Addressing mussel declines is difficult because their causes are mostly unknown.

The green crab, Carcinus maenas, is a widely distributed invasive species that eventually alters its new environment. It's assumed that such species have high genetic diversity, or a variety of characteristics allowing them to adapt and thrive. But the green crab has low genetic diversity, while still spreading rapidly in a new part of the world. A U.S. National Science Foundation-funded study led by Carolyn Tepolot of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is investigating the adaptive mechanisms of the green crab along the west coast of North America, where it has shown extensive dispersal in the last decade despite minimal genetic diversity. The results are published in Molecular Ecology. The project is a collaboration among scientists at WHOI, Portland State University, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and the University of California, Davis.

The invasive Asian jumping worm (Amynthas agrestis) has many common names: Alabama jumpers, Jersey wrigglers, wood eel, crazy worms, snake worms, and crazy snake worms. “Invasive Asian jumping worms got their name because of the way they thrash around,” said Mac Callaham, a Forest Service researcher who specializes in soils. “They can flip themselves a foot off the ground.”

Like other earthworms, Asian jumping worms eat tiny pieces of fallen leaves. But there’s a problem. Those fallen leaves make up the top layer of forest soil. The litter layer, as it’s called, is home to a vast number of tiny animals. Many plants can’t grow or spread without the layer of leaf litter. “Soil is the foundation of life – and Asian jumping worms change it,” says Callaham. “In fact, earthworms can have such huge impacts that they’re able to actually reengineer the ecosystems around them.”

The Invasive Mussel Collaborative announced today that it has released a new strategy to reduce invasive mussels and their negative impacts. The Strategy to Advance Management of Invasive Zebra and Quagga Mussels is intended to drive investments, policy, and research around invasive mussels across the Great Lakes region and beyond. Since their initial discovery in 1989, zebra and quagga mussels have had dramatic impacts on the Great Lakes ecosystem and economy, including changes to the food web, degrading fish habitat, interfering with drinking water systems and damaging tourism and recreation economies. Today, these mussels continue to spread to new water bodies across the U.S. and Canada.