Invasive Species - What's New on NISIC's Site

Spotted wing drosophila was first discovered in Hawaii in the 1980's and in the continental U.S. in 2008. It was possibly introduced in fruits imported from Asia. This insect is a pest of unripe berries and stone fruits capable of causing significant economic losses.

More than 50 non-native species have found their way to the Galápagos Islands, over 10 times more than scientists previously thought, reports a new study in Aquatic Invasions published Thursday, March 28. The study, a joint effort of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Williams College, and the Charles Darwin Foundation, documents 53 species of introduced marine animals in this UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the largest marine protected areas on Earth. Before this study came out, scientists knew about only five.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus spreads much more aggressively in pigs than previous research suggests, according to a new study by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists. The study, recently published in Scientific Reports, shows that pigs infected with the FMD virus were highly contagious to other pigs just 24 hours after infection—long before showing any clinical signs of infection such as fever and blisters. Foot-and-mouth disease continues to be the most important foreign disease of livestock worldwide, said Jonathan Arzt, lead investigator and veterinary medical officer with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Although the United States has not had an FMD outbreak since 1929, this highly contagious viral disease, which is sometimes fatal, is still considered a serious threat to U.S. agriculture.

An insect that can infest and damage hundreds of hectares of maize fields, literally overnight, is sweeping across Asia – alarming smallholder farmers and threatening livelihoods – but the damage can be limited, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported today. Fall Armyworm is native to the Americas. However, since 2016 it has been aggressively moving ever eastwards, sweeping across Africa, and making landfall for the first time in Asia last summer. Fall Armyworm (FAW) was first detected in India in July 2018 and by January of this year, it had spread to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and China’s Yunnan Province.

ITP is pleased to announce the release of seven new screening aids for important Coleoptera and Lepidoptera pests. These were designed specifically to be used when examining traps or through visual inspection as part of surveys conducted by state cooperators for the APHIS PPQ Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey (CAPS) program. CAPS surveys help officials monitor and gather data about pests on high-risk hosts and commodities, including pests that may have been recently introduced to the United States. The new screening aids are for city longhorn beetle, Agrilus of concern, pinecone and bamboo longhorn beetles, tomato fruit borers, coconut rhinoceros beetles, spruce longhorn beetles, and velvet longhorn beetle. All of ITP's CAPS screening aids can be found on the ITP website and on the CAPS Resource and Collaboration site Screening Aids page.

If your leisure-time plans include boating or fishing in Michigan, recent changes in Michigan’s Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA) may affect you. Beginning March 21, watercraft users in the state are required to take steps to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species. Also, anyone fishing with live or cut bait or practicing catch-and-release fishing will need to take precautions to limit the movement of invasive species and fish diseases.

National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) tracks environment and natural resources legislation to bring you up-to-date, real-time information on bills that have been introduced in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. Database provides search options by state (or territory), topic, keyword, year, status or primary sponsor. Topics include Wildlife - Legislation related to wildlife, including protected and invasive species, habitat restoration, migration corridors, trafficking, disease, etc. 
See also: Resources State Bill Tracking Database Archive (2009-2022); includes Wildlife-Invasive Species and Wildlife-Pollinators topics

Montana’s economy could see more than $230 million in annual mitigation costs and lost revenue if invasive mussels become established in the state, according to a report released by the Montana Invasive Species Council (MISC). Commissioned by MISC and completed by the University of Montana Flathead Biological Station, the economic impact study provides “a snapshot of projected direct costs to affected stakeholders dependent on water resources,” said Bryce Christiaens, MISC chair. “It does not reflect the total economic impact to the state, which would be considerably higher.” View a one-page fact sheet [PDF, 484 KB] or the full report [PDF, 4.0 MB].

Invasive insect and arthropod species make for a lot of scary headlines—think emerald ash borer, spotted lanternfly, and Asian longhorned tick, just to name a few. But success stories in invasive-species response are out there. They just need to be told. One of those success stories is the eradication of the European grapevine moth (Lobesia botrana) in northern California after it was found there in 2009. A cooperative, multipronged response effort kept infestations from running wild, and it was declared eradicated in 2016, two years after the last adult moth was caught in the region. The story of this effort is recounted, along with analysis of the invasion’s dynamics, in a study published in January in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America.

Aquatic invasive species inflict millions of dollars of ecological and economic damage to the Great Lakes, with impacts on coastal industries, water quality, native fish and wildlife and human health. Recently, Blue Accounting, in partnership with state and federal agencies, launched a new suite of web-based resources and tools to support early detection of aquatic invasive species in the Great Lakes. The earlier new aquatic invasive species are detected, the easier and less expensive it is to avoid potentially devastating consequences of a large invasion. The new tools released by the Blue Accounting initiative help target efforts to focus on high-risk species and locations across the 11,000 miles of shoreline and 94,000 miles of surface area that make up the Great Lakes basin.