This open access book describes the serious threat of invasive species to native ecosystems. Invasive species have caused and will continue to cause enormous ecological and economic damage with ever increasing world trade. This multi-disciplinary book, written by over 100 national experts, presents the latest research on a wide range of natural science and social science fields that explore the ecology, impacts, and practical tools for management of invasive species. It covers species of all taxonomic groups from insects and pathogens, to plants, vertebrates, and aquatic organisms that impact a diversity of habitats in forests, rangelands and grasslands of the United States. It is well-illustrated, provides summaries of the most important invasive species and issues impacting all regions of the country, and includes a comprehensive primary reference list for each topic. This scientific synthesis provides the cultural, economic, scientific and social context for addressing environmental challenges posed by invasive species and will be a valuable resource for scholars, policy makers, natural resource managers and practitioners.

Invasions of non-native plants into forests of the Southern United States continue to go unchecked and only partially un-monitored. These infestations increasingly erode forest productivity, hindering forest use and management activities, and degrading diversity and wildlife habitat. Often called non-native, exotic, non-indigenous, alien, or noxious weeds, they occur as trees, shrubs, vines, grasses, ferns, and forbs. This guide provides information on accurate identification of the 56 non-native plants and groups that are currently invading the forests of the 13 Southern States. In additin, it lists other non-native plants of growing concern. Illustrations. This is a print on demand edition of an important, hard-to-find publication.

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. The Forest Service has identified invasive species as one of four significant threats to our Nation¿s forest and rangeland ecosystems. Forest Service R&D has a crucial role in providing insight and options to protect trees, forests, and ecosystems from the threat of invasive insects. Currently, Forest Service R&D provides info. crucial to the development of tools for studying, controlling, and mitigating several invasive insects in the U.S., such as the Asian longhorned beetle, emerald ash borer, banded elm bark beetle, Mediterranean pine engraver, Sirex woodwasp, and hemlock woolly adelgid. Clients and scientists have worked together to identify short- and long-term needs to enhance existing research. Examples of this vision are provided here.

Evidence suggests that efforts to eradicate the Asian long-horned beetle appear likely to succeed, while the emerald ash borer and P. ramorum are likely to continue to infest and damage forest ecosystems indefinitely despite efforts to control them. The Asian long-horned beetle is a wood-boring insect from Asia that has caused separate infestations in parts of New York, New Jersey, and Illinois. Over 8,000 trees infested with the beetle have been removed, and over 600,000 trees have been chemically treated to protect against the beetle. As a result of these and other actions, federal and state agencies have been able to reduce the size of the infested areas. The emerald ash borer is also a wood-boring insect from Asia that has infested large areas in Michigan; Ohio; Indiana; and Ontario, Canada, killing an estimated 15 million trees. The pathogen P. ramorum is the causal agent of the disease known as Sudden Oak Death. It is of unknown origin and has infested large areas in central and northern coastal California and a small area in southern Oregon. This book examines these key environmental issues. This book is a fully-indexed excerpted version of a GAO report.