USGS Invasive Species Program

America is under siege by many harmful non-native species of plants, animals, and microorganisms.

More than 6,500 nonindigenous species are now established in the United States, posing risks to native species, valued ecosystems, and human and wildlife health.

Natural Disaster of a Living Kind

The current annual environmental, economic, and health-related costs of invasive species exceed those of all other natural disasters combined.

USGS provides the tools, technology, and information supporting efforts to prevent, contain, control, and manage invasive species nationwide.

USGS plays an important role in Federal efforts to combat invasive species in natural and semi-natural areas through early detection and assessment of newly established invaders, monitoring of invading populations; improving understanding of the ecology of invaders and factors in the resistance of habitats to invasion; and development and testing of prevention, management, and control methods. USGS invasive species research encompasses all significant groups of invasive organisms in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in all regions of the United States.

Research components of the  USGS Invasive Species Program include:

• Prevention
• Early Detection and Rapid Assessment of New Invaders
• Monitoring and Forecasting of Invasive Species
• Effects of Invasive Species
• Control and Management of Invasive Species
• Information Management

INVASIVE SPECIES MANAGEMENT RESOURCES

For a list of the most current Invasives program research projects, visit the USGS Invasive program's Highlighted Projects page.

The Invasive Species Information Node (ISIN) is a data management portal for invasive plants, animals, and pathogens in the United States and a thematic node of the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII). I

The Global Invasive Species Database, now easier to use, grants access to quadruple the number of invasive species than when the database began.