Resource Search

Note: Economics of Damage and Control

Love them or hate them, there's no doubt the European Starling is a wildly successful bird. A new study from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology examines this non-native species from the inside out. What exactly happened at the genetic level as the starling population exploded from just 80 birds released in New York City's Central Park in 1890, peaking at an estimated 200 million breeding adults spread all across North America? The study appears in the journal Molecular Ecology - "Environmental correlates of genetic variation in the invasive European starling in North America."

Publication NF-WF-10-01, 2nd Edition

From the series Invasive Species in South Florida.
See also: So What’s in a Burmese Python Anyway?

Tegus were first reported in the Miami-Dade area about a decade ago as escapees from the pet trade. Since then, over 6,000 tegus have been removed from Dade County. What is most troubling is that the number of tegus seems to be increasing exponentially. Less than 200 tegus were trapped in 2012, but over 1,000 were trapped in 2017. To make matters worse, the areas where they are being trapped are getting closer and closer to the park. From the series Invasive Species in South Florida.

Is artificial intelligence (AI) a viable tool in the fight against invasive species? UF/IFAS scientists are exploring that question on a small scale in a project using traps equipped with AI technology. For this study, the traps are targeting Argentine black and white tegus in Fort Pierce. Scientists hope these AI 'smart traps' will help suppress and remove an established population of these lizards that have quickly invaded this Treasure Coast city. St. Lucie county has become a hot spot for tegus over the last seven years.

The National Feral Swine Damage Management Program, within the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s Wildlife Services (WS) program, has unleashed detector dogs as a new tool to help stop the spread of feral swine, one of the United States' most destructive and ravenous invasive creatures. This is a new tool, and WS will continue to train the dogs and use them to detect nutria, feral swine, and possibly other invasive species, in the future.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today it is offering $75 million in funding for the eradication and control of feral swine through the Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program (FSCP) in a joint effort between USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The 2018 Farm Bill included this new pilot program to help address the threat that feral swine pose to agriculture, ecosystems and human and animal health. Additional information on the complete funding announcement and about specific pilot projects, including target areas and the roles for which partner assistance is being requested, can be found on the FSCP webpage.