Resource Search

New website delivers spectacular images and details of some of the world's bees. ARS scientists need your help in monitoring and protecting our important pollinators. The Exotic Bee ID website, designed and developed as a screening aid to support identification of non-native bees, offers spectacular views of some of our most important and not so important pollinators with stunning clarity. Watch the  video to learn more about this new tool.

Exotic Bee ID was designed and developed as an interactive screening aid to help those that monitor and intercept non-native bees in the U.S. Theintention is to help reduce the loss of valuable native pollinators through early detection of possible invasives.

Something troubling is taking hold in Oregon. Strange, exotic plants and animals are showing up in places where they don't belong. They are invasive species, and they're taking over landscapes, driving native wildlife away, and making everyone from ranchers to fishermen to wildlife managers nervous. What are these invaders? Where do they come from? And what can we do to stop them?

Climate change means new and stronger weeds. In this video, University of Wisconsin-Extension weed specialist Mark Renz shows how climate change will turn some of our existing weeds such as Canada thistle into super weeds. Plus, a look at some new weed threats from the south.

With cases of a strain of what is known as bird flu recently found in dairy cattle, USDA and other stakeholders have been busy monitoring the situation and implementing measures to protect our nation’s dairy cattle. Rod Bain and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack looks at what has so far transpired in this edition of “Agriculture USA”.
See related resource: Avian Influenza

Scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture are studying ways to keep honeybees stress-free and healthy. These pollinators are important to American agriculture and our nation’s food crops.

Scientists with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service in central California are using sound to control insects that spread disease in grape vineyards.

The USDA Agriculture, Forestry, and Climate Science Working Group and USDA’s Office of Energy and Environmental Policy have launched a year-long monthly webinar series that aims to equip USDA employees and key Cooperative Extension personnel with the scientific foundations of climate change as they apply to USDA’s mission and daily work. The series features leading scientists from within and outside USDA, who provide the latest scientific information and respond to questions about climate change and the application of science to decision-making on working lands. This series is designed to be of use to USDA conservation, resource management, commodity, and service staff. The material is accessible to those not already familiar with climate science, but also includes information that is of use to technical experts.

See also: Tools for Varroa Management Playlist for more videos

Includes public service announcements and related videos.

After 2 years, California has been declared free of virulent Newcastle Disease. Effective June 1, 2020 the CDFA and the USDA have announced an end to the vND quarantine in southern California. You can read the CDFA press release here.

Invaders with strange sounding names are costing Americans billions of dollars each year. These invasive species will change the way we work and play in the outdoors.

In conjunction with National Invasive Species Awareness Week, Governor Jay Inslee proclaimed the same week (February 23-27, 2026) as Washington Invasive Species Awareness Week to raise awareness and find preventative solutions for invasive species.

This three-part webinar series will highlight project-based applications of remote sensing for plant species of interest especially those affecting grasslands and aquatic inland lakes and waterbodies, and more with a lens towards innovative uses of hyperspectral data for additional invasive species detection.

Register to attend: Aug 14, Aug 21, Aug 28, 2024 -- Three 90 min sessions (12-1:30 pm EDT)

The Invasive Species Data Mobilization Campaign of the Western Governors’ Association seeks to encourage national, state, and local land managers, private landowners, and non-governmental organizations to enter previously unavailable data into new or existing invasive species data management platforms using recommendations developed by WGA and invasive species data experts.

High-quality information is an essential weapon in the fight against invasive species in the West. Land managers, conservation groups, industry, and private landowners need accurate, current regional invasive species occurrence data. Technological barriers and standardization issues, however, often prevent wide sharing of useful invasive species occurrence data.

See also:

• LISTEN: Out West podcast highlights the importance and complexities of data collection for invasive species (Jun 4, 2021)
• LISTEN: Learn the importance of invasive species data to conservation districts in Our West podcast (Feb 17, 2021)

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) are co-hosting 10 webinars on weed science and research, with a focus on impacts from weeds and invasive plants.

Beginning April 5, weekly presentations will be given by ARS weed science research experts. The webinars will occur every Tuesday from 2-3p.m. Eastern Time (ET) and include an interactive Q&A session. The webinar series is open to the public. Webinars are recorded and available to view on demand.
See also: USDA-Agricultural Research Service and Weed Science Society of America Collaborate to Present Weed Science Webinar Series (Mar 28, 2022)