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Biocontrol is an important management tool that utilizes one species (a biocontrol agent) to control another (a target host) and can be an effective approach for controlling populations of invasive species across broad spatial scales. Climate change, though, is complicating biocontrol, raising concerns that mismatches between how biocontrol agents and their hosts respond to climate change could alter the efficacy of current and future biocontrol programs. In response, a team of RISCC (Regional Invasive Species and Climate Change) Management Network and NE CASC (Climate Adaptation Science Center) researchers has published a new "Management Challenge" that details how climate change impacts the relationship between biocontrol agents and their target hosts and outlines management implications arising from this problem.

As of July 2022, the Northern giant hornet has not been found in Massachusetts.

The Northern Giant Hornet Public Dashboard shares detection and trapping data. Citizen scientists were able to view detections in real time, including the number of reported sightings and number of hornets confirmed by type. Coordinating this information provided input on future trapping and demonstrated the benefit of collaboration with citizen scientists. WSDA has indicated that citizen data sharing and bottle trapping efforts are crucial to protect Washington from this invasive species.

Plants for planting can carry a wide variety of pests that are more likely to become established in the U.S. because they are already on a suitable host. In some cases, the plants themselves are the pest. To ensure U.S. import regulations provide adequate protection against the risk posed by plants for planting, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) established a regulated category called "Not Authorized Pending Pest Risk Analysis" (NAPPRA). NAPPRA allows APHIS to more fully protect U.S. agriculture from foreign pests while minimizing adverse economic and trade impacts. Under NAPPRA, plants for planting must undergo a pest risk analysis before APHIS will authorize the taxon for importation.

Before NAPPRA, APHIS' plants for planting regulations (also known as Q37) categorized imported plants as either prohibited (not allowed) or restricted (allowed under certain conditions). The regulations did not require a pest risk analysis prior to the importation of a new taxonomic group of plants. This differed from APHIS' fruits and vegetables regulations (Q56) where the importation of regulated articles is prohibited until APHIS completes a pest risk analysis.

King County's Best Management Practices (BMP's) help landowners control weeds using a variety of options that consider characteristics of the site and keep negative side effects to a minimum. The Noxious Weed Control Program follows county guidelines of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). The goal is to maximize effective control and to minimize environmental, economic and social damage.

New Mexico Department of Agriculture coordinates weed management among local, state, and federal land managers as well as private land owners.

Includes species listed as a Federal Noxious Weed under the Plant Protection Act, which makes it illegal in the U.S. to import or transport between states without a permit.

PPQ conducts weed risk assessments (WRA) as part of its process for safeguarding U.S. agriculture and natural resources from weeds and invasive plants. A weed risk assessment is a science-based evaluation of the potential of a plant species to establish, spread, and cause harm in the United States. PPQ may initiate an assessment for any number of reasons, including: evaluation of commodity import requests, detection of a new weed in the United States, and petitions for listing from stakeholders.

Whether your pest is a weed, insect, animal, microbe, or another organism, correct identification of your pest makes controlling it easier and often more effective.

Provides overview of former project to protect and conserve communities of the Delmarva Peninsula (Chesapeake Bay region).

Our scientists are developing strategies and methods to manage the brown treesnake and protect endangered species and other wildlife, improve public health, and protect power stations and other sensitive locations from intrusion.