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

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is updating domestic regulations for Phytophthora ramorum (P. ramorum), the causal agent of Sudden Oak Death. From 2004 to 2013, APHIS issued a series of Federal Orders to deregulate nurseries where the pathogen has never been found or had not been found recently. Now, APHIS is codifying these Federal Orders with a final rule. APHIS collected and responded to public comments on this rule in 2018. APHIS has determined that updating the domestic regulations to include all Federal Orders issued in recent years will make it easier to find and comply with current restrictions which are necessary to protect the United States from the artificial spread of P. ramorum. This action will go into effect May 20, 2019.

USGS has published, and plans to update on a bimonthly basis into the foreseeable future, a dataset called "Catalog of U.S. Federal Early Detection/Rapid Response Invasive Species Databases and Tools." The catalog, developed in collaboration with the National Invasive Species Council Secretariat, is a multi-sheet spreadsheet that contains openly available, online, federally supported databases and tools dealing with various aspects of a potential national early detection and rapid response invasive species framework.
Note: Version 2 was updated May 20, 2020.

Golden nematode was first discovered in Long Island, New York in 1941. It was possibly transported on military equipment returning from Europe after World War I. If left uncontrolled, the golden nematode is capable of causing a 100% loss in potato yields.

The Indiana Terrestrial Plant Rule (312 IAC 18-3-25) designates 44 species of plants as invasive pests. This rule makes it illegal to sell, gift, barter, exchange, distribute, transport, or introduce these plants in the State of Indiana. This rule goes into effect in two stages. As of April 18, 2019, it is illegal to introduce plant species on this list not already found in Indiana. Plant species already in trade will be prohibited from sale one year later (April 18, 2020).

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.

Secretary Perdue is making available an additional $45 million to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and its partners to address the ongoing virulent Newcastle disease (vND) outbreak in southern California. This funding will allow APHIS and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to strengthen their joint efforts to stop the spread of this disease and prevent it from affecting additional commercial flocks. vND has been confirmed in more than 435 backyard flocks since May 2018. It was also confirmed in four commercial flocks in December 2018 and January 2019.

Secretary Perdue Proclaims April as ‘Invasive Plant Pest and Disease Awareness Month’
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue proclaims the month of April 2019 as Invasive Plant Pest and Disease Awareness Month and encourage all citizens to increase their understanding of invasive plant pests and diseases—specifically, those designated as Hungry Pests, whose destruction has great environmental, ecological, and economic impact on our Nation, states, and communities.

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.