Monitoring and Forecasting of Invasive Species

The Invasive Species Program assesses changes in populations and distributions of established invaders.  As part of their strategic plan, they strive to:

• Apply of cost effective methodologies for statistically reliable monitoring of the spread of invasive species in U.S. ecosystems (in cooperation with the Status and Trends Program),
• Integrate use of historical occurrence records, remote sensing and global positioning system (GPS) technologies, improved field sampling methods, and GIS to document spatial and temporal patterns of expanding invasions at site, landscape, and regional scales,
• Develop methods for systematic observations of invader populations to understand factors influencing the lag period - sometimes spanning many decades - between the initial establishment of a free living population and the appearance of invasions at landscape and regional scales,
• Develop methods for monitoring the effectiveness of measures to reduce or eliminate invasive species populations and to restore native communities.

Below is a sampling of research conducted in USGS Science Centers that deal with Monitoring and Forecasting of Invasive Species:

• Cichlid fishes of the Southeastern United States: Identification, Distribution, and Environmental Considerations - (Principle Investigator: Howard Jelks, FISC)
  
  
• Developing Ecological Forecasting Models With High Performance Computing (in partnership with NASA) - (Principle Investigator: Tom Stohlgren, FORT)
  
  
• Development of the Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database - (Principle Investigator: Amy Benson, FISC)
  
  
• Development of Tools to Assess Nutria Population Densities, Movements, and Life History Characteristics - (Principle Investigator: Jacoby Carter, NWRC)
  
  
• Documenting, Mapping, and Predicting Invasive Plants, Animals, and Diseases in the United States - (Principle Investigator: Tom Stohlgren, FORT)
  
  
• Documenting Ecosystem Components in the Hanalei ahupua'a (watershed), Kaua'i - (Principle Investigator: Jim Jacobi, PIERC)
  
  
• Documenting, Mapping, and Predicting Invasive Plants, Animals, and Diseases in the United States - (Principle Investigator: Tom Stohlgren, FORT)
  
  
• ED/RR Technical Assistance - (Principle Investigator: Randy Westbrooks, NWRC)
  
  
• Early Warning for High-risk Incipient Invasive Species - (Principle Investigator: Lloyd Loope, PIERC)
  
  
• Ecological Impacts of Non-Native Asian Carp in the Lower Missouri River Ecosystem - (Principle Investigator: Duane Chapman, CERC)
  
  
• Estimation of Ecosystem-level Effects and Evaluation of Potential Control Methods for the Asian Swamp Eel (Family: Synbranchidae, Genus: Monopterus) - (Principle Investigator: Leo Nico, SOFIA)
  

• Integrated Management of Alien Predators - (Principle Investigator: David Foote, PIERC)
  
  
• Introduced Plants - (Principle Investigator: William Halvorson, SBSC)
  
  
• Invasive Plants in the Great Plains and Upper Midwest - (Principle Investigator: Diane Larson, NPWRC)
  
  
• Invasive Potential of Fountaingrass (Pennisetum setaceum) in Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada - (Principle Investigator: Lesley Defalco, WERC)
  
  
• Invasive Species in the upper Mississippi River - (Principle Investigator: Jeff Rach, UMESC)
  
  
• Inventory and Monitoring in Hawaii and Pacific Island National Parks: Avifauna - (Principle Investigator: Linda Pratt, PIERC)
  
  
• Inventory and Monitoring in Hawaii and Pacific Island National Parks: Terrestrial and Aquatic Invertebrates - (Principle Investigator: Thane Pratt, PIERC)
  
  
• Inventory and Monitoring in Hawaii and Pacific Island National Parks: Vascular Plants - (Principle Investigator: Linda Pratt, PIERC)
  
  
• Koa Community Ecology: the Effects and Effectiveness of Landscape-scale Management of Alien Mammals - (Principle Investigator: Steve Hess, PIERC)
  
  
• Koa Community Ecology: Food Webs, Arthropod Communities, and Bird Communities - (Principle Investigator: Paul Banko, PIERC)
  
  
• Koa Community Ecology: Mapping and Assessing the Status of Koa Forest Communities on the Islands of Maui, Moloka`i, and Kaua`i - (Principle Investigator: Jim Jacobi, PIERC)
  
  
• Leadership and Coordination (BRM) Mapping Tamarisk and the Cactus Moth - (Principle Investigator: Tom Stohlgren, FORT)
  
  
• Modeling Nutria Population Dynamics, Movement and Marsh Impact - Principle Investigator: (Jacoby Carter, NWRC)
  
  
• NBII Invasive Species Information Node - (Principle Investigator: Catherine Jarnevich, MESC)
  
  
• Neotropical Migrants along the Colorado River Biosphere - (Principle Investigator: Charles Van Riper, SBSC)
  
  
• Non-native, Invasive Plant Information for the Southwest: Southwest Exotic Plant Information Clearinghouse (SWEPIC)and Southwest Exotic Plant Mapping Project (SWEMP) - (Principle Investigator: Kathryn Thomas, SBSC)
  
  
• Nutria Population Dynamics, Movement, and Life History in the Chesapeake Bay Region - (Principle Investigator: Jacoby Carter, NWRC)
  
  
• Nutria Population Estimates - (Principle Investigator: Steven Travis, NWRC)
  
  
• Plant Ecology of the Northern Great Plains - (Principle Investigator: Amy Symstad, NPWRC)
  
  
• Rare Plant Research for DOI Client agencies:Channel Islands, California (NPS, USFWS); Great Lakes (NPS, USFWS); Mojave Desert (USFWS) - (Principle Investigator: Kathryn Mceachern, WERC)
  
  
• Seed Bank and Regeneration Ecology of the Invasive Sedge, Scleria lacustris,in Seasonal Marshes of Florida - (Principle Investigator: Colette Jacono, FISC)
  
  
• Standardized Protocols for Invasive Species Monitoring - (Principle Investigator: Pam Fuller, FISC)