Harmful Non-Indigenous Species
(HNIS) database

The Harmful Non-Indigenous Species (HNIS) database includes fact sheets about selected harmful non-indigenous (non-native) species in Hawaii. Information is available on selected plants , invertebrates , and vertebrates .

Also, an HNIS questionnaire is available in case you wish to contribute a new or (updated) report.

HNIS reports

Plants 

• Pampas grass (Cortaderia jubata, with information about Cortaderia selloana [Poaceae])  
  (HEAR also provides other information and links RE: this species.)

• Miconia (Miconia calvescens [Melastomataceae])  
  (HEAR also provides other information and links RE: this species.)

• Verbesina encelioides [Asteraceae])  
  This is a student report written by Andi Shluker (1999, rev. May 2002) while attending the University of Hawaii (Botany 350).

  (HEAR also provides other information and links RE: this species.)

• Other species
  HEAR has online reports on several other invasive plant species in a format similar to that of the HNIS reports. Search for the text "alien plant report" (no quotes) on HEAR's page entitled Information Index for Selected Alien Plants in Hawaii. Here you'll find detailed reports on a number of additional plant species with respect to their distributions on the island of Maui (including Caesalpinia decapetala; Citharexylum caudatum; Citharexylum spinosum; Cortaderia jubata & Cortaderia selloana; Derris elliptica; Lonicera japonica; Passiflora mollissima; Pueraria montana [aka Pueraria lobata]; and Senecio madagascariensis).

Invertebrates 

• Argentine ant (Linepithema humile; syn.: Iridomyrmex humilis [Formicidae])     
  • This report was significantly revised in March, 2004. This new version is now online. (If you need a copy of the old version as a historical reference, it is available on request from webmaster@hear.org.
  • Additional information and links regarding this species are also available online.

• Red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta)  

Vertebrates 

• Axis deer (Axis axis [Cervidae: Cervinae])  
  (HEAR also provides other information and links RE: this species.)

HNIS questionnaire

Also available is the HNIS questionnaire*. This questionnaire is used to collect detailed information about each species in the HNIS database. If you have information to report, or would like to assist in the progress of this project, you are encouraged to complete and submit one of these forms for a species which is on our "hit list" or for another species about which you are concerned. (You will notice that a few questions are geared specifically towards plants; however, most questions are relevant to any organism group. Specialized questionnaires for various organism groups [plants, invertebrates, vertebrates] will be available in the future.) Contact webmaster@hear.org for more information.

The HNIS database also contains specific information about plants based on "Yes/No"-type answers to over 70 questions RE: ecological requirements/preferences, tolerance to environmental conditions, history of invasiveness, etc.. (HEAR does have a spreadsheet-based model to rank weeds based on various criteria; eventually, this should be online, but for now, ask webmaster@hear.org for details.) A questionnaire for this detailed HNIS information* is also available online. (Admittedly, many of the categories/questions on this detailed HNIS questionnaire are highly subjective. Send suggestions for improvements (and/or information RE: other similar systems) to webmaster@hear.org.) (*This document is in Adobe Acrobat .PDF format.)

If you would be willing to keep us apprised of updated information gathered by you or your organization, please e­mail the Hawaii Ecosystems at Risk project and let us know!

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