Control and Management of Invasive Species

The Invasive Species Program provides approaches to contain, reduce, and eliminate populations of invasive species and restore habitats and native species.  As part of their strategic plan, they strive to:

• Research to develop and test approaches to control populations of invasive species. Emphasis is on genetic, molecular, biological, chemical, and ecological methods that reduce impacts of invasive species at landscape and regional scales.
• Research on adaptive management methods for invasive species that help restore ecosystem processes and populations of native species, especially those that are endemic or threatened.

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

• Are Exotic Species a Source or a Sink for Nutrients Between Nearshore and Deepwater Biota? - (Principle Investigator: Susan J Nichols, GLSC)
  
  
• Arid Sagebrush Task of A Regional Experiment to Evaluate Effects of Fire and Fire Surrogate Treatments in the Sagebrush Biome - (Principle Investigator: David Pyke, FRESC)
  
  
• Brown Treesnake Research Strategies - (Principle Investigator: Gordon Rodda, FORT)
  
  
• Building Experimental Capacity to Assess Ballast Treatment Effectiveness and Residual Risk - (Principle Investigator: Scott Smith, WFRC)
  
  
• Channel Islands National Park Weed Model - (Principle Investigator: Kathryn Mceachern, WERC)
  
  
• Characterization and Development of Repellant and Attractant Pheromones to Control Invasive Bighead and Silver Carp - (Principle Investigator: Ed Little, CERC)
  
  
• Coordinated Intermountain Restoration Project - (Principle Investigator: David Pyke, FRESC)
  
  
• Determinants of Native and Invasive Riparian Plant Distributions - (Principle Investigator: Johnathan Friedman, FORT)
  
  
• Develop New Strategies to Manage Mouflon in Hawaii - (Principle Investigator: Steve Hess, PIERC - see also Developing New Strategies to Manage Mouflon (Ovis musimon) in Hawaii)
  
  
• Develop Techniques to Reduce Feral Cats - (Principle Investigator: Steve Hess, PIERC)
  
  
• Development of Techniques for Restoration of Forest Ecosystems in the Mariana Islands - (Principle Investigator: Steve Hess, PIERC)
  
  
• Development of Tools to Assess Nutria Population Densities, Movements, and Life History Characteristics - (Principle Investigator: Jacoby Carter, NWRC)
  
  
• Dry Forest Restoration on Leeward East Maui - (Principle Investigator: Art Medeiros, PIERC)
  
  
• Ecological Effects of Non-Native Fish Introductions in Voyageurs National Park - (Principle Investigator: Larry Kallemeyn, CERC)
  
  
• Ecological Impacts of Non-Native Asian Carp in the Lower Missouri River Ecosystem - (Principle Investigator: Duane Chapman, CERC)
  
  
• Effects of Alien Plant Invasions and Fire on Native Plants and Animals in Mojave and Sonoran Desert Scrub Communities - (Principle Investigator: Todd Esque, WERC)
  
  
• 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)
  
  
• Evaluate Treatments to Reduce Hazardous Fine Fuels Created by Non-native Plants in Zion Canyon - (Principle Investigator: Matt Brooks, WERC)
  
  
• Evaluating the Effects of Pinyon Juniper Thinning Treatments at a Wildland/Urban Interface - (Principle Investigator: Matt Brooks, WERC)
  
  
• Evaluating Options for Vegetation Recovery following Catastrophic Fire - Grand Canyon/Parashant - (Principle Investigator: Todd Esque, WERC)
  
  
• Evaluating Postfire Seeding Treatments Designed to Suppress Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) in Ponderosa Pine Forests on the Colorado Plateau - (Principle Investigator: Matt Brooks, WERC)
  
  
• Evaluation of the Effect of Sterile Wheat (Triticale) Effects on the Native Plant Community When Used as a Post Fire Treatment on the Robber' Burn Site, in Clark County Nevada - (Principle Investigator: Todd Esque, WERC)
  
  
• Experimental Control of Invasive Ant Species in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park - (Principle Investigator: Paul Banko, PIERC)
  
  
• Experimental Treatments to Eradicate or Control Buffelgrass at Saguaro National Park - (Principle Investigator: Todd Esque, WERC)
  
  
• Fire and Invasive Annual Grasses in Western Ecosystems - (Principle Investigator: Matt Brooks, WERC)
  
  
• Fire and Invasive Species: A NWRS Reference Guide to Policy, Best Management Practices, Monitoring, and Resources -(Principle Investigator: Matt Brooks, WERC)
  
  
• Genetics of Invasive Species - (Principle Investigator: Anne Henderson, LSC)
  
  
• Habitat Invasibility and Species Invasiveness - (Principle Investigator: Qinfeng Guo)
  
  
• Impacts of Feral Pigs on Invertebrate Biodiversity in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park - (Principle Investigator: David Foote, PIERC)
  
  
• Integrated Management of Alien Predators - (Principle Investigator: David Foote, PIERC)
  
  
• Integrated Restoration Strategies Towards Weed Control on Western Rangelands - (Principle Investigator: David Pyke, FRESC)
  
  
• 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)
  
  
• 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)
  
  
• Managing Biological Invasions: Moving from Control to Coexistence - (Principle Investigator: David Pyke, FRESC)
  
  
• Modeling Nutria Population Dynamics, Movement and Marsh Impact - (Principle Investigator: Jacoby Carter, NWRC)
  
  
• New Method for Control of Zebra Mussels and Asian Clams: Effect of Carbon Dioxide and Gas Supersaturation on Stress and Survivorship - (Principle Investigator: Barnaby Watten, LSC)
  
  
• 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)
  
  
• Palila Restoration - (Principle Investigator: Paul Banko, PIERC)
  
  
• Plant Ecology of the Northern Great Plains - (Principle Investigator: Amy Symstad, NPWRC)
  
  
• Postfire Control of Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) at a Sagebrush Steppe Site - (Principle Investigator: Matt Brooks, WERC)
  
  
• Potential Biological Invasions Associated with Interbasin Water Transfers - (Principle Investigator: Greg Linder, CERC)
  
  
• Pre-fire fuel Manipulation Impacts on Alien Plant Invasion of Wildlands - (Principle Investigator: Jon Keeley, WERC)
  
  
• Protocols for NPS Pacific Network for Early Detection for Incipient Invasive Species: Plants and Invertebrates - (Principle Investigator: Lloyd Loope, PIERC)
  
  
• Reducing Feral Cat Threats to Native Wildlife in Hawaii - (Principle Investigator: Steve Hess, PIERC)
  
  
• Reducing Wildfire Risk by Integration of Prescribed Burning and Biological Control of Invasive Saltcedar (Tamarix spp.) - (Principle Investigator: Matt Brooks, WERC)
  
  
• Revegetation/restoration Following Tamarisk Control - (Principle Investigator: Pat Shafroth, MESC - see also: Restoration of Tamarix-Dominated Riparian Ecosystems in Western North America)
  
  
• Sea Lamprey Control - (Principle Investigator: Roger Bergstedt, GLSC - see also: Support to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission for Sea Lamprey Control in the Great Lakes Basin)
  
  
• Suppression of Alien Yellowjackets - (Principle Investigator: David Foote, PIERC)
  
  
• Understanding Fire Ecology and Developing a Fire Management Plan for Upland Habitats on Mauna Kea, Hawaii - (Principle Investigator: Jim Jacobi, PIERC)
  
  
• Using Fire to Manage Invasive Species - (Principle Investigator: Matt Brooks, WERC)
  
  
• Wetland Invaders: Life History in Native versus Invasive Environments - (Principle Investigator: Beth Middleton, NWRC)