In the 2012 President's Budget Request, the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) is terminated. As a result, all resources, databases, tools, and applications within this web site will be removed on January 15, 2012. For more information, please refer to the NBII Program Termination page.
Viruses and diseases are some times controversially referred to as invasive species. Sometimes it's the vector or organism that carries and/or spreads the infection that is invasive or simply not native to a region. Click on the links in this sentence for more information about Avian Influenza / Bird Flu, or West Nile Virus.
Natural ecosystems are under siege by many harmful species of plants, animals and diseases. The impacts of invasive species are second only to habitat destruction as a cause of global biodiversity loss. The current environmental, economic, and health costs of invasive species could exceed $US138 billion per year, more than all other natural disasters combined. Notorious examples include:
Hundreds of new species from other countries are introduced intentionally or accidentally into the
US
each year. And many species originating in the US have been introduced into other parts of the world. This threat intensifies the need for scientists, managers, and the many stakeholders to rally together to build better systems for invasion prevention, improve early detection of invaders, track established invaders, and coordinate containment, control, and effective habitat restoration.
Invasive Species of the Week (IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group - ISSG)
Click on the button below to open a PDF file of a fact sheet for the 'Invasive Species of the Week'.
The ISSG has launched this 'Invasive Species of the Week' button to raise awareness of the impacts of invasive species on native biodiversity and threatened ecosystems. For information about how to add this button to your own Web site, contact Shyama Pagad (Manager, Species Information Services, IUCN SSC ISSG).
Conferences of Interest
The NBII Program is administered by the Biological Informatics Program of the U.S. Geological Survey