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

See What's New on the NISIC's Web site. Includes items of interest that have been added to our site, in order of most recent post date.

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Recent News

  • ARS Research News - ARS Scientists Discover a Promising Biological Control Agent for Tree-of-Heaven in France

    • Dec 1, 2021
    • USDA. Agricultural Research Service.

    • United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and collaborators confirmed the presence of a newly described Eriophyid mite, a potential biological control agent for the invasive tree-of-heaven, in France. The study, published in Phytoparasitica, showed that this was the first record of the mite species in the country, and the species could be a solution for managing tree-of-heaven infestations in Europe and the United States.

    • Post Date
      Dec 01, 2021
  • Australia's Native Wildlife in Grip of Unprecedented Attack

    • Nov 23, 2021
    • Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (Australia).

    • A new report, Fighting Plagues and Predators: Australia’s Path to a Pest and Weed-Free Future [PDF,  12 MB], reveals the environment is facing a "sliding doors" moment, with two possible futures for Australia, depending on the decisions made today. It highlights a looming wave of new extinctions and outlines two futures for Australia, one based on an unsustainable ‘business as usual’ approach and the other based on implementing targeted actions that will help save our unique biodiversity. The report pegs the conservative cost of damage caused by invasive species in Australia – predominantly weeds, feral cats, rabbits and fire ants – at $390 billion over the past six decades and around $25 billion each year and growing.

    • Post Date
      Nov 22, 2021
  • Natural Enemy of Invasive, Berry-Eating Fly Found in U.S.

    • Nov 2021
    • Washington State University. College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences.

    • A parasitoid wasp that is the natural enemy of a fly known as the spotted-wing drosophila could be a good friend to growers. Washington State University researchers recently confirmed the discovery of the potentially beneficial wasp in the United States for the first time. The drosophila flies cause major damage to several Washington crops, especially sweet cherries and berries. The wasp, which lays its eggs in the flies, could be a means of controlling their spread.

    • Post Date
      Nov 21, 2021
  • Tracking and Fighting a Tree Killer

    • Nov 16, 2021
    • USDA. ARS. Tellus.

    • Potatoes and oak trees don’t have a lot in common, but there is one thing, and it isn’t good – a fungal-like plant pathogen in the genus Phytophthora. One of the many invasive pathogens contained in this genus, P. infestans, was responsible for the Irish potato famine. Since the mid-1990s, though, Phytophthora has been attacking forest trees along the West Coast, with the pathogen P. ramorum, also known as "sudden oak death" (SOD). SOD was first detected in the San Francisco Bay Area; it has since spread throughout California. In 2001, SOD was discovered in southwest Oregon where it infected tanoaks trees. The discovery led to the formation of an interagency team that included researchers from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Oregon State University (OSU), to develop strategies to mitigate the impacts of SOD.

    • Post Date
      Nov 21, 2021
  • NIFA Invests Nearly $11M to Combat and Prevent Citrus Greening Disease

    • Nov 18, 2021
    • USDA. National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

    • The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced today an investment of nearly $11 million for research to combat Huanglongbing (HLB), commonly known as citrus greening disease. HLB, caused by an insect bacterium, is the most severe threat to global citrus production.

    • Post Date
      Nov 19, 2021
  • APHIS Deploys a High-Tech Tool to Keep Ralstonia Out of the United States

    • Nov 16, 2021
    • USDA. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

    • The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has deployed a new, high-tech tool to help protect U.S. nursery and specialty crop growers from a disease-causing microbe called Ralstonia solanacearum. APHIS' Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) program is now using molecular diagnostics (MDx) at its plant inspection stations to rapidly detect R. solanacearum on imported geranium (Pelargonium) plant cuttings. PPQ developed this extra level of protection following the detection of R. solanacearum in April 2020, which triggered an emergency response in 44 states involving 650 nurseries. PPQ successfully eradicated R. solancearum from the United States just two months later.

    • Post Date
      Nov 17, 2021
  • Pennsylvania Phasing in Ban of Invasive Japanese Barberry

    • Nov 12, 2021
    • Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

    • The PA Department of Agriculture added Japanese Barberry, or Berberis thunbergii, to a list of noxious weeds — plants that cannot be legally sold or cultivated in the state. The popular, non-native, ornamental shrub forms dense, prickly thickets that crowd out plants and disrupt native ecosystems. It is also thought to harbor black-legged ticks that spread lyme disease. The ban on sale and cultivation took effect October 8, 2021. Enforcement of the ban will be phased in over two years to allow time for nurseries to eliminate it from their stock, find non-harmful alternatives, and develop seedless, sterile varieties that pose less threat to the environment and agriculture. Landscape and nursery businesses will receive notices of the timeline, procedures and exemption process for sterile varieties. Property owners should consider eliminating the shrubs on their land.

      Effective October 8, 2021, the department added two other plants to the noxious weed list: garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata, and Japanese stiltgrass, Microstegium vimineum. These plants are generally not sold in nurseries but are invasive and common in Pennsylvania. Landowners with these plants on their property are encouraged to remove them.

    • Post Date
      Nov 15, 2021
  • Mitigating the Growth of Toadflax: A CABI Interview

    • Oct 5, 2021
    • CAB International. Invasives Blog.

    • Native to Europe, Yellow toadflax and Dalmatian toadflax can typically be found on roadsides, grasslands and in crop fields. Like many other weeds, toadflaxes have been introduced to North America as decorative plants but they are now having adverse effects. Whilst these weeds may look pretty and provide decorative appeal, they soon escape cultivation and can cause some serious problems. As part of a new CABI Podcast series, CABI experts Dr Hariet Hinz and Dr Ivan Toševski were interviewed from CABI in Switzerland, who explained to us what measures they are taking to control the spread of toadflax.

    • Post Date
      Nov 13, 2021
  • Turning Back A Silent Invasion

    • Nov 11, 2021
    • Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (New Zealand).

    • New Zealand Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Simon Upton, is calling for the Government to lift its game in protecting native ecosystems from the thousands of exotic plants spreading throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. “Rampaging weeds pose a deadly threat to our native ecosystems by smothering, outcompeting and preventing regeneration of native plants,” the Commissioner says in a report released today. The report, Space invaders: A review of how New Zealand manages weeds that threaten native ecosystems, explains that protecting our native ecosystems from being overrun by weeds not only helps our native taonga plants, but also saves crucial habitat our taonga fauna need to survive.

    • Post Date
      Nov 11, 2021
  • APHIS Establishes an Oriental Fruit Fly (Bactrocera dorsalis) Quarantine in Santa Clara County, California

    • Nov 5, 2021
    • USDA. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

    • Effective September 30, 2021, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) established an Oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis or OFF) quarantine in the San Jose area of Santa Clara County, California. This action is in response to the confirmed detections of six adult male OFF from the San Jose area by CDFA between September 13 and September 24, all from traps in various types of fruit trees in residential areas. By October 4, CDFA confirmed the seventh male OFF in the vicinity of the earlier finds, which expanded the quarantine further. The establishment of this quarantine area is reflected on the APHIS website, which contains a description of all current Federal fruit fly quarantine areas.

    • Post Date
      Nov 11, 2021